Nighthawk Chronicles: White Death
by Plague Angel
Summary: Finished! R&R deeply appreciated. The most lethal virus in history reveals itself on a periphery planet, killing thousands in hours. The clock is running to stop it from being developed into the deadliest biological weapon in known spac
1. Prologue

**The Nighthawk Chronicles: White Death**

6,000 dead in less than six hours. Another 14,000 in the next ten. The periphery planet of Kenton has kept a lethal secret within its ecosystem for thousands of years, and in the most unsuspected of times, it emerges like a biblical plague. Shadows emerge to utilize it in the worst possible way: the perfect weapon.

Upon a maze of hidden enemies, conspiracies, and post-apocalyptic chaos, the Nighthawks have to make their stand against inhumanity as countless lives hang in the balance. The past, present, and future all turn to dust in the wake of the White Death, so prepare yourself. The end is near.

* * *

**PROLOGUE**

The doorway was only two meters away, but it began to stretch, farther and farther until his arms couldn't reach it. _Another few steps…_ Time seemed to slow down, his heartbeat ticking the rest of his life away. Ba-boom. Ba-boom. Ba-boom.

One hand on the wall at all times for balance, he managed to stumble his way through the hall and into the lobby, where his aide was waiting for him. He was already sitting against a column, slumped over with near black colored blood oozing from his eyes and ears, the same stuff drooling from his mouth into his lap.

"Patrick…!" he said, struggling to get a full breath out to carry his voice over. And with that is aide painfully turned his head in his direction, one bloodshot eye caught his movement. He landed next to the other man and welcomed the relief from the pain of walking. Every muscle in his body burned, every nerve screamed. Looking outside he noticed how wrong this was, to die on such a nice day. The clouds had cleared for the most part, and a light breeze graced the complex. Two _Bushwacker_ battlemechs stood outside, unmoving. The glass of the lobby was just tall enough to encapsulate the full view of both of them, reflecting the sun with their pristine shine.

But his adoration for the scene outside was cut short as his transmission started playing over the PA system, the message he recorded twenty minutes ago and just finished transmitting to the corporate command offices on Melissia.

"_PSI Logistics Command, this is Colonel Richardson, militia command, Kenton. Approximately five hours ago several wounded civilians entered the compound perimeter requesting medical attention…"_

"I did it," he said to his aide, like something was accomplished this day. But he was more trying to convince himself than his friend. Such a friend he was, volunteering to help him to the command post to get the message out. But he wasn't fooling anyone. He knew he was going to die.

His aide slumped his head back down and replied through heavy breaths, "I knew… you would."

Richardson set the message up over the PA so all the men left alive here would know that it got out. It was the last thing he could do for them, though he knew their time was short.

"…_within four hours. It bypassed all our filters and masks. The level five quarantine shelter was completely ineffective…"_

Just then one of the _Bushwacker_ pilots came in over his radio. _"Colonel, I hear the message. Should I proceed to outpost three now?"_

With all his energy Colonel Richardson lifted the radio to his mouth and pressed the transmission button, "That's affirmative. Go quick."

One of the _Bushwackers_ took off out of the complex while the other stayed where it was.

"Didn't you hear me Private? Get out of here cough! cough!…!" His arm went numb and dropped to the ground. He noticed his aide pull his sidearm from its holster and weakly drop his hand into his lap with the weight of the weapon.

"_Sir…"_, the remaining pilot kept his fear inside, trying only to speak with calmness. _"It hit me already. I can feel it. I can't leave the base."_

Richardson figured out that the 'mech cockpits were sealed completely, prepared for zero-atmospheric environment and space combat if need be. With their own source of oxygen, any pilot found inside during the initial few minutes of this catastrophe would be alright. Only one was inside his 'mech at the time, the other jumped in as soon as he heard the word to do so. Apparently he was too late.

"_What should I do now, sir?"_

Richardson just replied, "Whatever you want."

His aide spoke up finally, blood almost pouring from his mouth now, "Kirsa will do… a good job. This isn't it… for them."

He knew he was just trying to cheer him up before the final moments. Kirsa was a native civilian who enlisted in the planetary militia and damn near defied every order he gave her. She had the good of the people in her heart as opposed to the good of the company on her mind. His position was clear, but he lacked men, so her leadership got her where she is. In truth, she was the last person he wanted to give command over to, but in the bottom of his heart, after walking the doorsteps of hell today, he was glad the people had her to lead them. Funny how things changed in the final few hours.

"… _I don't know how many have been infected outside, but communications is out through the entire region. Any parties that land need to coordinate with Lieutenant Kirsa Lindemann for safe landing coordinates..."_

His aide lifted the gun and tried to place it to his head when his body spasmed violently from his central nervous system reacting to blood clots throughout his brain and spinal column. Any words he had hoped to spout out were literally drowned out by the bursted capillaries in his throat. He dropped the gun and produced a painful whine from his throat, a deep, gurgling one.

Richardson took the gun from him and placed it to his head, and relieved the man of another moment of this torment in the most violent way. It was instant, the way he wanted it.

The flash inside the lobby alarmed the pilot outside, _"Sir! What's going on in there? Sir?"_

Richardson had no words for him. It all happened so quickly. No one saw it coming, no one had a chance of surviving it. He closed his eyes and said a silent prayer. Then lifted the gun to his chin with the arm that still had feeling and squeezed the trigger.

"… _We were prepared for everything. Everything but this. They're all dead. Every one of them…"_

* * *

Several million miles away, a man who technically never existed entered one of the most advanced communications chambers in the galaxy. He sat down and laid his palm on the glass sensor in the arm of the chair. Watching the light crystals flash around him, his seat illuminated from beneath while a hologram shimmered to life less than a meter from his face. It was the upper body of his commander, in a uniform concealing his facial features, no background, distorted voice.

"_We have a Code Green in sector 48B106. Reports indicate a pandemic engulfing the local populace, projected 100 fatality rate. We want you to assemble your team and land. The target is Kenton. Your mission will be available for download momentarily. You are authorized full oversight of the operation. Use any means necessary to achieve said objectives. Full details are on the way."_

The man looked down and saw his transfer screen flash indicating his orders. They would be downloaded to his neural implant for decryption and destroyed.

"_May the blessed Blake light your path, and enshroud those of the impure."_

Then the hologram dissipated and a message floated in mid air, foretelling the future in levels not yet seen.

**-- END TRANSMISSION --**


	2. Chapter One: First Contact

**CHAPTER ONE: FIRST CONTACT**

There are some pretty boring things one can do to fill their life with. Editing the 'community service' section of a second rate newspaper on the Lyran planet of Kowloon was one of them. But in this business, it was 'who you know' more than 'what you can do'. At least, for Janet Freedman, that was exactly how it went.

Luck just had it today that a friend of hers overheard something rather intriguing, and had the opportunity to follow up on it. Several medical units and transport ships with a variety of military grade equipment were suddenly scheduled for launch, forty-eight hours from now on an emergency mission. It was a volunteer program, but the pay was damn good, and the majority of people able to stepped forward. The target of this venture was unknown however. And it was the press's job to figure such things out, if not out of anything but page filler.

And so it went down quickly, with Janet's friend mentioning it in the employee lounge, and another person calling contacts to get the full scoop. And when all was illuminated, the journalists hit the keyboards. When word of a major pandemic in the mining planet of Kenton gets out, jeopardizing the entire Certanium extracting site of Psyonic Syndications Incorporated, it travels quickly. At least on this small planet. It was not by any means a major hub in the Lyran media network, but it was a relay for periphery communications to the major economical centers in the Melissia theatre of the Lyran Alliance. With that comes such situations.

The problem was: Janet seemed rather distraught at the thought of a pandemic. After calling her roommate, she seemed to stare off in the distance quite a bit. And after another sixteen hours, disappeared entirely.

* * *

'CLASS B EXPLOSIVES' marked the crates being unloaded into the warehouse by a dozen tired men. Despite the number of hours they've been up making this transfer work properly, they all displayed a phenomenal level of enthusiasm and drive, even if they didn't know quite yet what the things were meant for.

Veto Caletti inspected the contents of the crates while the men rested. He would ensure the product was exactly what he wanted. The son of a man who lost everything to the ruling nobles here on Kowloon ran this miniature guerilla operation with as much passion as any successful militant. Though he had no prior military experience, he was extremely well educated and knowledgeable. But, like all great commanders, he had good troops. And his favorite one approached him shortly after he finished with the crates.

Mika, a native of Asian descent, met up with him four years ago, and proved to be as sharp as any militant he's ever known. Some hidden infatuation for her sparked within Veto, but she always kept herself distanced, professional. In reality, that is exactly what he needed to keep on track. Having her close never hurt however. As attractive as she was, it only helped that she was willing to go undercover and help out the cause. Those wiles proved very tempting to more than one unlucky target of Veto's campaign, as some figured out she had a bite to match the most venomous cobra this side of the main continent.

"Veto, we need to talk."

Walking away from the crowd to speak between only each other, he could sense something was wrong with her. It was in her eyes. It was… fear.

"I know how much this operation means to you," she began. But he didn't let her finish.

"Yes. So you know why I need you here."

"Please don't do that to me. Let me speak." After waiting a moment, she allowed his feelings for her to override his brain and allow her the space needed to complete her thoughts. Looking down, almost in embarrassment, she began, "It's my mother. Her car was hit by a train a week ago."

"Do you need to visit her? We still have time before the operation—"

"Veto… I need to _be_ with her. She may not survive the next surgery, and…" She paused for a moment, collecting her composure. "I've held off leaving this long to make sure you got your stuff right. But she's gotten worse. I don't think I could live with myself if I don't see her."

"Mika, you are the most important person here."

Looking up, "No I am not. You have Gerard, and Kimmel. They have so much more to offer you than I do." Then she put her hand on his cheek. "Look, I know you want me by your side. You never say it, but I can see it in your eyes. But she supported me after my father died in the Clan Invasion. You know that the nobles don't like her. You can only imagine what she went through to make sure I turned out all right. I owe it to her. And I can't place this over her, as much as I want to."

Contemplating his options, with the biggest operation this year coming to fruition in the next week, he ran the scenarios through his head. Or, at least he tried. But family was something deeply ingrained into his mind. After all, it is the reason he started this in the first place. He couldn't in good conscience take that away from someone who's helped him so much in the past. "Then go. Make sure she makes it through all right. Don't get into any trouble. I want to see you come back."

She nodded and turned to leave. After five paces, she stopped in hesitation to turn around and say something, then appeared to think better of it and continued, leaving him behind with his mission, and life as he knew it.

* * *

Ashley booked it hard, nearly changing while driving to get to her destination in time. She was called in on a code 12, which meant she was to abandon her operation and report to HQ, as quickly as possible. Needless to say, it was the only one she's ever seen since landing on this planet five years ago.

Rushing up the stairs to the condemned building in the slum district of Kowloon's capital, she hit the door to the entryway into the internal compound of the safe house. Transmitting an encoded signal from her communicator, the comm panel on the wall next to the door, camouflaged as a nasty old voice box lit up. _"This is private property. If I don't know you, then go away."_

"Code alpha sierra hotel reporting as ordered."

The door unlocked all of its safety catches and opened to reveal a refurbished Special Forces operations center. She entered and moved toward the briefing room.

* * *

"Ashley, you have arrived. I was just updating everyone. Have a seat." Star Captain Gennis Newclay headed the operation. The 26th Special Operations Unit, Jade Falcon Watch was stationed on Kowloon to monitor Lyran communication relays and press releases. The side projects were the internal study of organized crime and guerilla warfare. Ashley was in deep cover as Mika Kimonochi, a double identity created by some new troop in Kael Pershaw's fabrication department. But now, the chances of her returning to that four-year operation looked slim, as the screen behind Gennis showed jump paths to a periphery planet outside the Lyran Alliance.

Cyrus handed her a datapad containing additional information to the stuff Gennis was relaying to them, including pictures, historical press documents, and every bit of information about PSI at their disposal.

Gennis continued, "They do not know what it is exactly, but it is presumed to be viral. 100 lethality. Supposedly it took out a village, a major city, and the commanding militia complex on Kenton within six hours. If this is accurate, it would be the deadliest virus encountered, ever. Tara used her position within the Associated Press to follow up on leads pertaining to the emergency deployment of medical and equipment aide to Kenton. The teams launch in eight hours."

Ashley looked over to see if Tara was present, and found out that the entire unit was there. They haven't all been in the same room since the op started several years ago, each person having some duty to fulfill, or some cover to fill.

"I sent an encrypted message to our contact on Barcelona, who relayed it to Kael Pershaw. Luckily, he is in the OZ and was able to assess the situation and generate a plan of action. We are to assemble a forward tasking team and land on Kenton. Only nine of us are going. Team assignment is in your datapad."

After a few moments passed while everyone looked for their name, Ashley spoke up, "So what do we know about this planet?"

"Well," Gennis started, "The Lyrans started terraforming it over two hundred years ago, setting up several massive G-40 atmospheric transformer units with regular supply ships assigned to keep them running. Since the project started, standard continental pollination occurred, and the planet was in limbo for a while. They did not know if they wanted to use it as a military outpost, jumpship recharge point, or other. But our invasion in 3050 carved a corridor too close for them to keep sending ships over. Of course, the Falcons never went near it, so it went unattended for quite some time.

"About twelve years ago a team was sent there to check on the progress of said Terraforming in the hopes that the Lyrans could set up shop in case they wanted to counter-invade us in the OZ. They found that the metal around several G-40 units warped around the units themselves, completely conforming to their shape and depth. The atmosphere was finally suitable for human life, but it was Psyonic Syndications Incorporated that found a use for the metallic samples taken. They named it certaniam and developed new implant technology around it. It is indigenous to the main continent on Kenton, so they set up a mining colony there and supplied it with complete living arrangements and a corporate militia. It has since self sustained."

Cyrus, the errand-boy of the unit spoke up next, "So what do we have to do with this?"

"I have a shopping list from Kael. I think he is afraid they are going to weaponize it, at least according to the equipment he requested. We are to land and set up shop for the 32nd."

A silence overwhelmed them. The 32nd was only used in the most dire of missions. The prototype catch all force they all aspired to be promoted into. But none of them really knew much about it, since even with in the Watch it is all classified. Regardless, if Kael is sending in the big guns, then they knew they were in for a ride.

One troop spoke up, "You mean, we are going to be with the Nighthawks?"

Noticing Ashley staring into the distance, Gennis felt the momentum of his briefing dragging, "Ashley…"

Just moving her eyes to meet his, suggesting lingering thoughts, "Yes?"

Continuing, "Apparently Kael has them escorting some 'specialists' in. They will land after us and update us on our objectives."

Another member spoke up, "Okay, so how are we going to get over there? I cannot just pull a jumpship out of the garage and dust it off you know."

Annoyed with the comment, Gennis replied, "We go with the medical teams. They are taking several smaller craft over. It is a simple case of assumed identity. Extraction on the other hand… will be an issue. We expect the Lyrans to field a response team to secure the zone and make sure no one gets out with the virus. This thing in the wrong hands could kill a LOT of priority planets in any Successor State. But I have faith that the Nighthawks will come prepared with a plan for that."

After a moment of silence, Gennis finished, "Everything else is in your datapads. Read it over and I want the forward team to meet up in twenty, ready to go."

Then they dispersed. Gennis approached Ashley, "How was it?"

"Well, it was a real tear jerker, that much I can tell you. Veto really had it in for me."

"You know you were to _study_ them, not get involved on such levels—"

"Spare me the speech. Trust me, I know. Either way, I got an out and I took it. It looks like I will not be going back either, even if we do get back to continue this op."

"Well," Gennis assured her, "The mission carries on here for the most part. You were the only deep cover operative assigned to go with me to Kenton. The rest will stay here and continue their assigned areas. We will be very short handed this time around."

"And for the better. It would be rough to land more than nine on those little transports."

Gennis smiled, "I see you have already familiarized yourself with the infiltration plans. I guess I should have expected as much."

She turned to leave, "Expect all you want, I have a feeling what we see down there on Kenton will be very new to us all."

Gennis thought about that and knew that this was a fragile plan. Kael had to put it together in such a short amount of time that it lacked the solid contingency plans usually accompanying any official tasking. And how the Nighthawks were to get there was completely beyond him. But he had his orders, and the surprises ahead just came with the job.

* * *

Dr. Lex Barret rubbed the bridge of his nose in an effort to collect his thoughts. A black man of 32 years, his face remained so smooth that it was near impossible for him to look too fatigued. But the events of the last day have been turbulent at best. Turing his head away from the local news channel (which so happened to be the planetary station set up by PSI), he contemplated his options. Stationed at the auxiliary medical outpost in Danner, the second largest city on Kenton, he headed up the medical research labs. Being a mining planet set up by a corporation, his resources were fairly concentrated in front of him, though with that situation came many freedoms.

He recently took up the investigation of some infection wiping out their food supply. Kenton did not have an indigenous mammalian population, instead deferring to reptiles. Luck would have it that a particular species of reptile, dubbed "the calebs" after the man who first discovered them, was ideal for herding and domestication. They were, in effect, like large lizard-cows, whose meat was packed with nutritious compounds. The fact that Kenton could grow its own food helped displace the budget assigned to it by PSI into other areas. Namely, the centers to improve the standard of living for Kenton's inhabitants. The place has really grown into something much larger than PSI first envisioned, with several cities, schools, and a colonial government in charge of transportation, waste management, etc… The only things really reporting directly to PSI on a regular basis were the head directors of the governmental agency and the corporate militia that was funded and supplied by PSI to police the area and defend it if ever invaded. In the last seven years, it stared to accept local recruits, demanding a training facility, but softening the burden to supply militia troops from other sources.

With the caleb population quickly dwindling, an alternative food source was needed. But Lex's only concern was finding out what suddenly infected all of them. There were several barriers to his investigations however, one of them directly stemming from the freedom enjoyed by being a simple periphery planet. When whole fields of calebs were killed off, the farmers needed to dispose of them so the rotting carcasses did not litter the landscape they may later need to cultivate. The mass burning of the dead animals left little to no usable tissue for him to analyze.

Whatever did this to the calebs was attacking them in the wild as well, making his request for a search team to retrieve several animals for study fairly difficult to accommodate.

And all that was before the capital city's population was erased from existence. With Danner on lockdown and fears of the militia exerting martial law, almost all avenues of productivity were gone from his reach. The news kept reporting on a massive outbreak clearing out Kenton City and the accompanying militia command post. Since it happened so quickly, and since the infrastructure went to pot during that short time, details and specifics were extremely hard to come by. With little to no information, the release of frantic video footage and pictures of the streets littered with corpses only incited mass unrest in the city of Danner. Luckily, the mountain range between the cities, as low as it was, diverted the jet streams south and around the Danner region, alleviating the possibility of immediate contamination, though any feeling of safety was yet to be felt by anyone watching the reports. No one reported leaving the Kenton City region alive.

Lex called his wife to update her since he was awaiting word from the new militia commander as to his new duties. A picture of her flashed through is handheld vid-phone when she answered. _"Hello?"_

"Hey. Any word from the school?"

"_Yeah. Christine doesn't have to go for another two days. The school board is meeting with the local governor to figure out how it's going to react to everything."_

He expected as much. His main concern was his family staying in the loop while he remained at work. He assured them before that there was no real threat yet, despite what the news portrayed. Their composure made him proud. "Go ahead and head home. I have the suits from storage ready so when I get back I can show you how to work them. This thing… I really don't know how everything's going to work out."

"_Just come home when you can. We'll manage. And Lex?"_

"Yeah."

"_Be careful going through Danner. Some areas… there've been a lot of hijackings and looters. Things are looking real bad."_ The concern on her face was deep, and he knew she had many things to worry about. If not some virus killing them off in their sleep, then the locals pillaging the neighborhood. Suddenly this gig on Kenton didn't look so peachy…

"You know I will. Stay safe." And he hung up. Shaking his head, he told himself that transports should already be en-route to lift people off of this rock. He just hoped that kind of relief would come before it gets real nasty on the ground. The new reports on the news were of the unrest in Danner, and the lack of militia involvement to quiet it down. For some reason, a pit formed in the bottom of his throat.

* * *

"…_sending multiple relief ships with supplies and manpower in aide. I have pinpointed several targets to choose from. After taking the ship, it is up to you to land according to their determined flight paths and make your way to the 26th's forward base of operations. What you see now is everything Gennis' troops received before their departure. I am remaining on Sudeten to keep Khan Pryde informed of your progress and deal with political matters here. Thao, you now have complete authority over the mission."_

Kael Pershaw's image stayed on the briefing screen as several smaller screens appeared over his, one containing a zooming map of the periphery region in question and another containing jump paths and coordinates for the expected relief vessels inbound from Lyran border worlds. Star Captain Thao Prentice started pacing like he normally does when addressing his unit, "We have a ten man team for this, two are non-combatants. Meet Evan, a microbiologist from Sudeten, and Trevor Hanover, a nanotechnologist from Blair Atholl. Evan is from the Homeworlds, and Trevor was born and raised in the OZ. He is Jade Falcon, so I expect all of you to treat him as such." He waited while the unit simply responded in its own way. Some nodded agreement, others contorted their faces in understanding. "Attached to them are Vanessa and Rictor, two elementals from Shaine's unit. He recommended them personally, but they are specifically assigned as bodyguards for the scientists. Where they go, their escort follows."

Vanessa and Rictor looked over at the rest of the unit arrayed, both sitting as comfortably as they can in their chairs, their musculature making most standardized naval furniture unaccommodating.

Thao did the rest the easy way, "The rest of you, sound off so they can get to know you."

Gregors started it off while the others followed suit, "Star Captain Gregors, commander, 32nd aerospace support unit."

"Star Commander Brevan."

"Star Captain equivalent Julian Buhallin, espionage and infiltration specialist."

"Mechwarrior Tyler, happy to be here."

"Mechwarrior Weston, along for the ride."

Thao continued, "Each of your datapads has the unit roster for the 26th agents already en-route to Kenton. They are to land and establish a forward base of operations, securing a working environment and supplying it with needed equipment so Evan and Trevor can do their job. We are on this boat to get there, develop a cure, and get out. Any unneeded confrontations or complications are to be avoided at all costs. The only hiccups I expect are the insertion and extraction."

Rictor raised his tree trunk of an arm, "What exactly is our extraction plan?"

Thao turned to Gregors, "You are up."

Gregors responded as confidently as he could, "We do not know exactly what resources will be at our disposal down there. Kael Pershaw near guaranteed the Lyran Alliance sending military support; we are awaiting word on that. If that is the case, then we use their supply lines to mask our movements. If not, then it is a matter of finding our own ride and burning past their radar."

The look on Rictor's face did not show him comfortable with that response.

"In truth, we have to figure out what we are dealing with before we finalize an extraction plan. This one will be down to the wire, but Kael wants that cure, and we are the only ones capable of getting it for him."

With that Rictor nodded agreement and Thao finished, "If you have anything for me, I will be available in fifteen. You know where you need to be, so get to it."

The room started to empty when Thao noticed Julian in his seat staring at his datapad. Walking over, he saw a picture of Ashley on there as he apparently pulled her profile up through the 26th records. With everyone moving around him to leave, he sat like a statue in a flowing river.

Noticing Thao's presence he turned the datapad off and looked up at him. "What?"

"You know her?"

"Who?"

"Star Commander Ashley. You had her pic—"

Julian stood up and turned to leave, "Yeah. We met once." As he walked through the door Thao heard him comment, "Nice briefing by the way."

Confused, Thao turned to the screen with Kael Pershaw's face still staring into the room. The call had not ended yet, in case something needed to be addressed by the Falcon Watch leader himself.

"What was that about?" Thao asked his commander. The room was empty now, leaving Thao and Kael through the comlink.

After a pause, Kael just answered, _"Keep an eye on him this time out."_

When Thao asked what he was talking about, the connection was severed and the call ended. _What just happened,_ he wondered, standing alone in a world strangely new to him?

* * *

Gennis tried not to stare at his teammates strewn across the galley randomly. In this kind of cover, they were not supposed to know each other. Two large transport ships launched from Kowloon to assist the assembled Lyran military task force, which was a mix of troops from several border worlds with two warships. Two companies on Kowloon were addressed by the Lyran ambassador overriding the ruling nobles to assemble assistance teams and supplies. Both were going to be paid generously for their efforts. All personnel assigned were already verified by the Steiner embassy and full security and background checks were in place. The main problem Gennis had was that most of the medical personnel already knew each other, having worked together in Kowloon's population centers. So he had to pinpoint nine individuals from other agencies, including Civil Engineers, weapons experts, meteorologists, and other. Then he had his team breach the star port and 'replace' said individuals before launch. Two nearly missed their target altogether, and Gennis and Ashley had to subtly corral the individuals into vulnerable positions. It was up to the 26th operatives left on planet to take care of those unfortunate people. He assigned command to the next highest ranking person in his unit and left with his troops. It was nail biting to say the least, and he hoped it was the largest speed bump in this mission.

Ashley was receiving the usual attention from the opposite sex, but shrugging them off tactfully to follow him out of the room to the observation hallway. Cyrus was not even present as he was in his quarters familiarizing himself with the communications equipment his identity was supposed to have expertise in. The others just ate and kept to themselves.

The trip took a little over a week, with jumpship recharge times slowing them down. Gennis forgot how convenient the lithium fusion batteries were that some Clan ships had that make double-jumping possible. But it was the food that was the worst. For such high paid personnel to be arranging this trip, the food was of deplorable quality. But no one got sick yet, so something must've gone right.

He made his way to the grav deck, which was set up more like a lounge with its limited gravity. Looking out the window he sensed Ashley approaching from behind. Through the reflection of her face he studied the ships in the distance.

"There they are," he told her. The Lyran military craft were linking up with the other ships, creating a convoy over to Kenton. The planet itself was in the far distance as they departed from their jumpship two days ago to make way across the system to their destination.

"How many you count?" she asked.

Keeping his face forward, studying the view, he replied, "It is too far to judge. Looks like a warship and some smaller craft. They really pulled out the stops for this." Then he turned to look at her while she took a seat and sighed.

"What do you think of this whole thing?"

Gennis just frowned, "I do not like it. Every aspect of it turns my stomach." After a pause she realized that he couldn't think of anything more to say. But really, he didn't need to.

* * *

Colonel Jeffrey Thames entered what was soon to be his command headquarters. Things were still in the works as the convoy in orbit around Kenton arranged itself in landing patterns to get the most out of the two planetary star ports, with landings and takeoffs happening at regular intervals. He was the first to land after the initial security detail assigned to acquire command facilities. He arranged it so the civilian craft in orbit would land in between his dropships. It was not easy, so he appointed someone to oversee the landing and deployment of troops while he addressed the local situation. His aide, Sergeant Major Brent Harrison, followed him providing updates.

"Six buildings here and five at site two have been secured. CE is making a perimeter for us while forward teams are taking the news stations and law enforcement compounds. The information PSI gave us was accurate enough."

Thames stopped in the corner of his new office and turned around to direct the crew that was going to set it up for him. "This is it. I want my desk over there. Take care of the rest." The men snapped to it, with two surveying the room for electrical and communications outputs and another calling for the furniture and equipment.

"The runners are at the 40's and installing their payloads now," Harrison continued.

"All of them?"

"Three are still heading toward their assigned terraformers, but the rest are already underway."

"Good." Thames stared at the wall for a moment in contemplation. So far everything was happening smoothly. He needed his runners to get that stuff offloaded soon, in case everything goes to hell without advance notice.

Just then the door guard announced Thames' first visitor. "Sir! Local commander Lindemann is here to see you."

"Let her in."

Kirsa entered and was momentarily surprised at Thames' presence. His combat dress was neatly ironed and his boots nicely polished. Every accessory was aligned properly and his hair was cut in the famous 'flat-top' style. The man of 42 far outshined Kirsa in her dull, obviously used combat uniform. Of course, she looked like she had been on her feet for the last 48 straight hours, so nothing was said of it.

Looking at his datapad, Thames addressed Kirsa a moment after she regained her composure. She was, in effect, a local who rose through the ranks of a corporate militia, so any authority over her on his part was assumed. If he really wanted to run the show without written rules to provide his oversight in her chain of command, he needed to prove here and now that he was her higher. "Lieutenant Lindemann. I would rather skip the formalities and ask where half your forces are currently. My report states that a good portion of your troops failed to report when ordered."

Kirsa, knowing better than to enlighten him to every aspect of her now drama-ridden existence, responded with the tone she used when reminding someone that she earned her rank. "Several of my men… decided to disband when they heard the LAAF were assuming control of the planet."

"Disband? From what one of your troops told us, they mutinied."

That was, in truth, accurate. Christopher Shroeder, her second in command, and a conspiracy theorist, concluded that PSI's stock in certanium dropped so much that it was more lucrative to test a new biological agent on the population here and have the LAAF see first hand how effective it was in case it wanted to purchase said agent. Kirsa, failing to understand how he could believe such a thing was unable to convince him that the Lyran military was the only thing equipped to deal with something of this magnitude, and that they were here to extract the population. She did manage to avoid a physical altercation, but he managed to convince about a third of her men that the LAAF was the enemy after showing them how many troops were landing and took his share of equipment and people into hiding to fight for the people of Kenton. This, she did _not_ want Thames to know right now, since it would only alleviate her of any command she had left.

"Your sources are inaccurate. Those men had families they chose to tend to, and others simply left in shock over the severity of the situation." She kept her reply professional and plausible.

"That does not speak well of their character. How do I know the troops left under your command will cooperate?"

"My men will do what I tell them to. You are here for the good of the people of PSI, and therefore the good of the people of Kenton. We all have the same goal."

He figured if she didn't know he was here for the good of the Lyran Alliance as a whole already, then she wouldn't adopt that train of thought any time soon. She reminded him of himself when he was twenty years younger however, though he has seen too much war to remain such a humanitarian. Having that, he knew that her outlook would only help him make use of her and her men. This, however, was something he did not plan on wasting much time on. "Very well. You have the option of splitting them up for assignment to each of my mobile units, or keeping them together for an additional force at my disposal, as long as you provide local personnel to help my men out on the ground. They are not familiar with this planet, or its people."

"My men will stay together. People are already here for assignment in assisting your men. I chose the most familiar with the land and populations here."

"Very well. You will be hearing from me in a little bit. Sergeant Major Harrison here will give you your unit's new patrol route."

"Thank you." And she left with Harrison as Lex Barret entered.

Lex stood there for a moment, Thames not even noticing him in the corner of his eye, assuming he was one of his movers. After a few awkward moments, Lex cleared his throat.

"Is there something I can help you with?" Thames asked in a voice hinting of irritation.

"I am Lex Barret, the now head of medical operations on Kenton."

Instantly changing his mood, "Ah, Mr. Barret. I have been meaning to talk to you. Walk with me." Thames led him through the hallway full of men moving desks and cables to another hallway. It seems he was trying to familiarize himself with the facility and fit time for Lex in simultaneously.

"From what I received from the team in Kenton City before it was wiped out, it looks like full bio-suits can protect people from the pathogen. Simple gas masks and filters won't work," Lex began.

"I am aware of that. We came equipped."

"Good. I want to be on the research team for this. I have been on this planet for over ten years and know the ecosystem better than anyone else."

Thames stopped and turned to him, then paused with his mouth barely open, suggesting he was rewording his response. Then he looked him in the eye, "I have a spot for you, as head researcher for this thing. My men are commandeering your lab and setting up an alternate one as we speak. You give me everything you have," he said while lightly tapping Lex's chest with his fist suggesting he was talking about effort, "and I will give your team top priority."

Lex was confused now. "Top priority? What else could take priority?"

"We have a very volatile security situation here as the people in Danner run amok in chaos. We have containment concerns for an entire military contingent with no housing or food supply set up past ten days, not to mention every ounce of food, water, and sand drifted into this compound will be inspected for that _thing_ out there."

Suddenly changing his face to an inquisitive one, "By the way, does it have a name yet?"

"We dubbed it 'Kerschell' for the evil cat of the former head of the medical department in Kenton City. But the locals are calling it the White Death, in contrast to the bubonic plague of ancient Terra."

Turning in thought, Thames continued down the next hallway. "The White Death. It has a ring to it." Lex followed him as he worked his way into a group of technicians working on assembling security doors in the front of the compound. Harrison was waiting for him with another datapad, and he merged with them, beginning a new conversation with Thames before Lex had the opportunity to discuss his next concern.

"Sir, all detention locations have been located and marked for processing. With the records we got from PSI corporate, we have a max of eighteen subjects."

Lex perked up, "What are you talking about?"

Thames stopped and looked at Lex, "I need you to stop and ignore all this around you for a moment. The seriousness of this situation is forcing us to push the limits on some… protocols. You realize how bad it would be for this virus to find its way onto other populated planets, right?"

"You mean Lyran planets…"

"Don't let the specifics get to you. We need to both contain and cure this thing as quickly as possible. You need two things for that, right?"

"Yeah, a carrier and a test environment."

"Well, we are sending a forward team into the dead region soon to collect samples for study. Soon enough you will have some of this White Death waiting for you."

Wondering where he was going with this, Lex pushed him along, "Okay…"

"We tapped into the penal system here and pulled every hardened criminal awaiting a twenty year plus sentence, deportation flight, or date with the needle. You now have eighteen healthy males to work with."

This was happening pretty fast for him. Live human subjects? In all his years of practice, he's only heard of such a thing on pirate worlds. "What…" He was trying to find the right words for this before Thames lost his attention and moved on, "You expect me to experiment on humans?"

"I am only going to say this one time, because time is something I do not have much of. This virus, if the reports are accurate, is the deadliest discovery of the 31st century. We cannot afford to move samples of it to another planet to study and develop a cure. The risk factor is too high. We do it here, and resources are running extremely thin. I have my orders, and right here, right now, I am going to ensure the Lyran Alliance is safe from this by the time we leave this rock. Now you are either on board or off, but either way this is how things are going to work out."

Lex was having a hard time replying. He needed to be a part of the research team, there was no doubt about it. But what Thames was asking of him… the clock was ticking and he had to make his decision. "Colonel Thames…"

"Yes?"

"I'm still your man. But I have one request."

"Name it." For the moment, he was intent on hearing Lex out.

"My family, I want them moved to the quarantine zone when it's complete."

"Done. Give Harrison here their information and they will be retrieved and brought in. In the mean time, go with that man in the red vest over there and have him show you the manifest for the medical equipment we brought. He'll get you squared away."

Lex was relieved that Thames was accommodating him. With his family's safety off of his mind, he was now ready to tackle this thing full force.

* * *

"The _Victor VTR-9K_."

"80 tons, standard cockpit hatch. HildCo Interplanetary Inc. moved the computer access ports to the right of the command couch, and the heat sink power controls are all off on their own above your head to the left." Brevan drolled out information long stored in his brain through hours of late night studies back on Ironhold so long ago. Thao was keeping his team busy during the trip by running them through the specifics on the Lyran 'mechs they expected to encounter on the ground.

Kael finally authorized the new converters for this mission. The Jade Falcon scientist caste was tasked with coming up with a portable unit designed to detect neurohelmet settings and convert incoming signals to ones best read by the current configuration. It allowed members of the 32nd to use any neurohelmet without having to manually configure them to their individual brain waves, giving them the ability to jump into any 'mech and pilot it like it was their own. The technology was long in coming since the components needed for each pack were so large. Finally the prototype was authorized for a short production run so they could use them in emergency situations like this. They were not exactly field tested yet, but these were inherent risks assumed by all members of Kael's espionage department.

"Good. Armament?"

Weston took this one, "Gauss Rifle in the right arm, 16 rounds standard. Two medium pulse lasers in the left, short range missile rack in the torso."

"All right… lets take a break. I am bored as hell here." Thao, not one to hide the fact that he was just killing time, had about all he could of stats and mental regurgitation. He stood up and left the small room to make way toward his quarters. Halfway down the small corridor, he heard Julian training in the mini rec-room they had. Instead of game equipment however, Julian had the techs install exercise machines and multi-target workout bags, something he used extensively to simulate combat with multiple opponents. Since the ship was on a scheduled acceleration, the artificial gravity allowed him to blow off some steam, which he was doing vigorously given the opportunity. Thao entered the doorway and found his friend in the middle of four bags, working through some combat drills.

"You holding out okay?"

Julian, continuing to work out simply replied, "Aff. Why? What is up?"

"You only work out like this when something is on your mind."

"Something is always on my mind." Julian finished his sentence with a crushing blow to the center bag, accentuating his speech. Then he stopped and turned to face Thao for an actual conversation.

Then, out of the blue, "Who is Ashley?"

Julian for once physically showed his surprise at the question, then replied accordingly, "Someone in the 26th spec ops unit."

"You know what I mean."

Julian started working on some light strikes again, this time keeping them quiet so they could continue to talk, though it was obvious he didn't like the topic. "What? Did you not read the file? Everything you need to know is in there."

Thao entered the room now, closing the distance, "No, everything I need to know is not in the file. You know her, quiaff?"

Julian stopped again, shrugging, showing defeat. "She is the faceman of the team, or facewoman. I helped train her back on Ironhold."

Thao just waited for more information, staring at Julian like he was an open book, which he knew was ludicrous, as Julian was the most guarded person he knew. Getting this out of him was definitely a moment he wanted to exploit.

"We spent a lot of time together. That is it. I just did not think I would run into her like this."

Looking skeptical, "That sounds awfully suspicious…"

Almost defensive, "I spend a lot of time with you, and that does not mean anything. You spend a good amount of time with Bree—"

"If this is going to be a problem, I need to know now." Thao was not playing games, his command tone was powerfully projected, and Julian really did not want to deal with it.

"What is your problem?" He approached Thao near the doorway to get any misunderstanding out of the way.

Surprised that he was on the defensive now, Thao spoke before really thinking about his response, "It is just… I need you firing on all cylinders out there. There are sides to you that I have not seen—"

"Have I ever let you down before? Thao, this is business as usual for us." Then he turned around and waited for Thao to leave, "Now if you do not mind, I would like to finish up here before we lose gravity again."

Thao turned to leave, but had one more thing to say, "Julian… if you ever need to talk, I am here for you."

"Yeah," was his only response, and then he started a new set of drills.

Thao felt defeated, like he would never get to know the man behind that shell. But other things had priority right now, which became apparent when Mechwarrior Tyler approached him, "Sir, we will have visual of the target in a few moments."

Thao followed him to the bridge where one of the main view screens was zoomed in to capture the sight of their target vessel. "We have the drillers ready to go?"

One of the bridge techs replied, "Already armed and loaded."

Still staring at the screen, "Good. Get the gear."

Tyler went off while Thao studied the ship that would get them to their destination. _This could get real messy,_ he thought. But there was no other way to go about it.

* * *

The crowd at Central Square in Danner was reaching over two hundred people. It had been slowly growing throughout the day as speakers came and went, vocalizing their concern for the new Lyran military occupation. Local police were ineffective at breaking it up, and so far, it has been peaceful. So far…

"So if they are here to help us, then why are they keeping us in our homes? Why are we not being lifted off of this planet? How do we know they aren't here to contain PSI's mess so that they don't have to pay benefits to our families back in the Inner Sphere?" An improvised debate was being held currently. Events were completely unplanned, and therefore rather random. The other guy, a Lyran supporter was verbally outgunned as the crowd started shouting support for the one questioning their disposition here.

"I say we march over there and show them we mean to leave!"

Then the other guy found the stones to refute, trying to instill some common sense into the crowd before it did anything irrational. "What are you talking about? The Lyran military hasn't done anything here yet! If you march up there now, you will only make a bad situation worse."

* * *

A kilometer away, three members of Gennis' unit were unscrambling the starter codes for several large trucks. Getting into them was fine, an hotwiring the starter after the security measures were disengaged were elementary tasks, but some of these have keycard driver identification scanners that control the power source to the starter, and without a closed circuit, that thing would remain a paperweight. Luckily, the crowd was drawing all the attention away from them. Two Lyran 'mechs walked past the parking lot, forcing them to duck down behind the dashboards, but they passed and moved on toward the crowd, providing them the privacy needed to finish.

"One, this is five, I have ignition."

"One, this is four, I have ignition."

"One, this is six, I have ignition. All is a go."

The three men waited for Gennis to give them the okay to drive the trucks from the lot to a location to await entry to a Lyran medical storehouse. Two members of his team remained in their assumed positions to gain access to the civilian store site for all the larger medical equipment items. When given the word, they were to let the trucks in under the guise of routine traffic, and take what they needed, disappearing into the night. That included 'relieving' those who would figure everything out in the warehouses to give them a good time window. He was just glad they were able to access tranquilizer from within the medical storage units for use in such a situation. No casualties was always the best option in Gennis' mind, if at all possible.

"_Wait a minute…"_ was the only response they got. Then after two minutes, another three Lyran 'mechs rolled past them and the sounds of small arms fire and autocannons rang through the streets. It appeared that the crowd started something with the Lyrans.

"_We are moving the schedule up. Move out now to objective point 2."_

"Copy that one. Four taking the lead."

And the three trucks drove off to get the goodies they were sent here for.

* * *

In space there is no sound. The missiles going off only reverberated through the ship itself as they ignited their rockets and shot at their target. The ship itself was now accelerating, quickly. It was in effect, following the missiles toward the ship, and the sudden increase in speed increased the gravity within. All the gear for Thao's team was loaded up and the last of them were fitting it on.

The drillers, aptly named for the proverbial effect they have on a ship's ability to out run an aggressor being similar to anal penetration, were really only two types of warheads. Two of each were fired off to ensure each type hit, doubling the chances of much needed success.

The first type was a communications jammer, similar to an ECM unit, but much more potent, concentrating solely on jamming radio frequencies and flooding the area with a communications 'white noise' so that anything going out will only get overpowered and lost in the mix.

The second type was an electric current disruptor. Launching an EMP at the ship would screw it over entirely. A current disruptor would flux the speed of all the electrical current in the ship up and down, forcing many systems to shut down to protection mode against surges or ground outs. It can be deactivated later, making it ideal for disabling a ship's thrust and navigation ability without disabling it altogether.

The propulsion rockets on the missiles did not have air exhaust though, like the ones in an atmosphere. They raced ahead at an incredible speed, disappearing in front of the view of an enlarging Lyran civilian transport craft. This was the target picked out to be intercepted from the Zenith jump point to Kenton. The Falcon ship was attached to a jumpship ballsy enough to jump straight into the lagrange point between the next planet and its moon and jump back out after discarding the Nighthawks transport. The trip home for that ship was not of Thao's concern, he knew they had enough supplies to last out until Kael's plan reeled them back in.

The plan itself was so simple most people would never think it having a chance of succeeding, but then again, that was the point. Sometimes the best options are the ones right in front of you because your enemies are looking too far behind.

Either way, the target vessel sent out a distress call when sensing the incoming missiles, but the message was drowned out by comm static after the first few syllables of the message. The jammers were already doing their thing.

The warheads themselves had an immensely strong magnetic tip, which attached them to the target without damaging it. All four lights in the holo-readout in front of Thao turned from red to green when converging with the mark of the target ship, telling him that all four attached and were active. He knew it was an accurate report as the speed of the target craft decreased as the thrusters lost power. His team was now gaining considerably on the thing, needing to do this quickly before any more aid ships moved within range to sense what was going on. A massive blackout bubble was a good indicator of bad news.

The team itself was largely quiet, all strapped into their atmospheric suits with their oxygen tanks and gear over their shoulders. These suits were a lightweight polymer, easy to take off when needed, and had magnetic grapplers installed in the hands and feet. The oxygen capacity was their real drawback, as they were more designed to be small and stealthy compared to conventional space suits. Even the scientists had their share of equipment on over the suits. This was all they could take with them to Kenton. It was not a lot.

The target ship kept growing and growing in the main view of the bridge as the captain of the ship gave Thao regular distance updates. _Any moment now,_ he thoughts, the thrusters of the ship creating a dull hum in the airlock. Still, no one spoke, only increasing the tension of the upcoming mission.

After what seemed like eternity, Thao hit the large red button on the wall and told them all to file out. Almost instantly the world turned silent as they poured out of the airlock in the direction of the target ship. The one they were in planned a spin to reveal its backside to the target ship, creating enough gravitational pull to literally 'launch' the team at the target when its now opened airlock exposed itself. The maneuver was one of the riskiest things in this procedure, as a miscalculation could throw the team off and around the target, so they all waited in suspense as they drifted.

Most of them have not done anything like before, or have done it so long ago that vague memories resurfaced of floating in a void, completely free of control, sound, and direction. Space has never seemed so vast to them until they were literally floating in it, the sun of this system in the distance failing at illuminating the world around them. All they could do was ride the momentum given, some spinning like acrobats, others muscles locked in suspense. Be it fear, awe, or pure enjoyment, not a word was spoken between them. The most serene calm before the storm, and every moment stretched an eternity. Then like that, it was over.

The moment they landed changed the entire experience. Their radios didn't work with the jammers in effect, so it was all hand signals and instinct. They moved seamlessly and silently down the starboard side of the hull toward the primary airlock, two members kneeling down and scanning it with infrared and current sensors. A few hand signals from the first one and they went to work.

* * *

The crew of the 'Lady Blue' has never been so scared. Four missiles showed up in their sensor grid and literally 'attached' themselves to the hull. Their communications equipment went dead and their sensors cracked off right after telling them that a military craft was gaining on them quick. Then the thrusters lost power and near all the lights turned off. Only the oxygen scrubbers and life support systems were still operating, being designed to need so little energy in situations of running off of auxiliary batteries if the main power systems failed. They were built to last long enough to wait for rescue craft, though the only one approaching in their blind spot was not here to rescue them.

They armed up with needlers and vests and formed up around the main airlock. Ten guys at the main one, six at the auxiliary one on the port side. They heard a clang, each jumping in response to the activity outside. They had the inside door locked so that when the outside one was breached the ship wouldn't decompress. The little window peering into the airlock itself was the center of all their attention. Some had their weapons raised at it, watching, waiting, while others wedged themselves behind some barriers a few meters back. None really thought this would ever happen to them, and it was almost unreal. Since there was no gravity, those that did not secure themselves to the pull-ropes strung down the corridors free floated. One bumped into the guy next to him inadvertently.

The sounds continued, some clangs here, some knocks there. Then some pounding. One strong slam made several of the men jump again. Then another strong slam made the rest uneasy.

"God damn! This shit is killing me!"

"Get the others over here! They're going to breach on the starboard side!"

"Just relax. We have enough guns in here to blast those fuckers to the other end of the galaxy."

Two of them were breathing hard in anticipation, their exhales audibly heard by the other men. One was brave enough to take his hand off his weapon to wipe the sweat from his face. It was so dark in there, they couldn't tell who was the man next to them. Four from the other team finally arrived and took positions near the rear guys.

Then, suddenly, the pounding stopped.

After a moment, "What happened?"

"Did they give up?"

"I don't know. Keep your guard up."

Then they heard shouts from down the central corridor, from the men at the auxiliary airlock. "Over here! They're in the port side opening!" Then light exploded down the central corridor dark for nearly twenty minutes now, nearly blinding everyone in sight.

* * *

"Go, go, go!" Thao rushed Weston, Tyler, and the two scientists down the left to secure the bridge while he, Brevan, Vanessa, and Rictor surged forward to intercept the bulk of the crew. Julian, like always, worked best alone and pulled his way aft, toward the engine rooms. Gregors was outside knocking on the starboard side hatch to keep them distracted and was making his way to the port side airlock to join the group. Thao thought hard about separating the scientists from their security escorts, but he needed the elementals here for the heavy combat.

The lack of gravity made tearing the suits off more difficult than expected, but two people in each group laid down cover fire so the others could rip their polymer off, who then covered the first two. Needler rounds instantly hit the walls around Thao's head, sending sparks in several areas. He didn't flinch, but just shot his recoilless rifle at the men on the other side of the ship. The 32nd's weapons were loaded with tranquilizer rounds. One hit from one of those injected sedative powerful enough to drop a caribou mid run. Of course, too many hits would inject too much of the drug, overdosing the victim. But this was combat.

He hurled another flash bang into the corridor and ordered his men to avert their heads. It went off he and Vanessa pushed forward while Brevan and Rictor made their way left to flank the men down the way. They exchanged fire, with Vanessa getting hit in the arm, but they managed to shoot four men down in record time, them being disoriented by the flash enough to render them easy targets. The others kept firing, but their aim was off. Being civilian merchants did not help in zero gravity close quarters combat.

"Reload!" Thao let Vanessa know he stopped firing to reload his weapon, and she took up a position to keep the heat off of him. The men across had started some firing patterns, and she saw what looked like their leader order a few men around to their right, which she knew would lead them straight into Brevan and Rictor.

Gregors hit the airlock and was ripping his suit off to go and join Weston and Tyler in the bridge and needed cover fire. So Vanessa opened a barrage to get the crew to duck down while he finished up and Thao got into position. She counted seven men left to neutralize when Thao aimed his weapon down range and covered her for an advance to a better firing position. Instantly the 'puff' of the needlers drowned the hallway out with white noise as she tried to gracefully swing herself into a doorway. She had enough zero gravity training that she kept in this fight this long. Though she would still prefer an elemental suit right now. To add to her confidence, she nailed another crewman mid swing with a tranq-round. Things were looking up.

* * *

Brevan and Rictor literally floated into the men sent around to attack Thao and Vanessa from the rear. Rictor, reacting on reflex nailed the lead man in the face with the butt of his rifle while Brevan shot the second and third ones at point blank range. The impact of the rounds actually sent the men backwards into the previous hallway, both of them hitting their heads on the bulkhead with enough force to knock them out if they weren't already near comatose from the depressant in their veins. Rictor finished grappling the man down and sent him floating away, catching up to Brevan and nearly getting his head shot off when he floated too far into the next hallway. Apparently they had the crew surrounded, but were under gunned at the moment.

* * *

The bridge was as task unto itself. Tyler entered first and immediately avoided small arms fire by floating into a bulk of computers and behind a server rack. It seems that there weren't enough needlers to go around, and the men here, in the most dangerous of place to have them, carried pistols. Another three rounds were fired at Tyler, one punching through his left thigh. Droplets of blood floated into the air around him as he tried not to grasp his leg in pain.

Weston took his que and entered through the bottom of the doorway outside the average target profile range and managed to shoot down the man with the pistol. Another armed man was hidden behind a computer consol however, covering everything beyond the server stack Tyler was held up in. Gregors caught up and had to instantly read the situation and figure out how to get that bridge. Problem was, no matter how many plans he made, none of them were capable of breaching that hatchway without taking more fire. He threw his combat knife into the room to test the last man's reflexes, and to his surprise, the guy was a damn good marksman. The knife was shot and the wall behind it sparked with the remaining two shots he took. Gregors cursed in his head, then ordered Weston in. "Stay to the bottom, Tyler will have you covered!" Then he gave Tyler a look that told him that we was still in this fight and was needed to provide cover for his teammate.

Weston entered and pulled himself along the floor into the bridge while Tyler screamed a battle cry and fired at the last man multiple times. Gregors entered and floated past Tyler, gun ready and aimed at the cover the now outnumbered crewman chose to hide behind. "Surrender now! We have you outnumbered and out gunned!"

Gregors found a spot to stop himself in, and after a few moments, the gun the crewman was using floated up and over the computers. Then he rose into view with his hands up. Gregors shot him in the chest, knocking him out cold while Weston secured the pilot.

* * *

Julian made his way down the dark corridors heading toward the rear of the ship, making fists and testing the flexibility of his power gloves in between thrusts. He did not carry a firearm, but instead relied on metal plated gloves connected to batteries strapped to his forearms, allowing him to sent incapacitating jolts of energy through them when striking some poor soul unfortunate enough to get close to him.

He made no noise as he moved, his whole job to secure the rear half of the ship. The lights and noises behind him faded as he gained distance between him and the main fighting. His senses perked, like a cat searching for prey in the forest. And then he heard it: a man in the engine room. No, make it two… three men. He heard them whispering to each other. He just continued pulling himself toward the noise, making none himself until he was satisfied he was right around the corner from them.

Riding the momentum of the insertion as a whole, he braced his feet and inhaled one last time, confirming that these were the only men he heard. Then he launched himself around the corner and found three wide-eyed faces full of fear and surprise at his sudden appearance in the dark corridor. The first had the gun, and his shots went wide as Julian maneuvered horizontally and struck him once in the rib cage and once in the inner thigh, both times causing a 'pop' as the gloves surged electricity through the gunman, sending him convulsing down the hallway, useless to the fight and on the verge of unconsciousness.

The other two ran from him, one brandishing a knife and the other completely unarmed. The one with the knife wore technician clothing, and he decided to play hero and wait inside a doorway to ambush Julian as he gave chase. But Julian was the wiser, and he ducked the knife thrust, close enough to his face that he nearly felt the steel against his skin. Grabbing the man, he maneuvered through the air almost in slow motion and brought the man's back down onto his knee, forcing the man to arch in pain before twisting him and punching him the lower back, shocking him into submission and throwing him aside like so much trash.

_One more,_ he thought as he stopped to listen for the last man. But he heard nothing. The only place he could have gone was in the next room, the one whining with machinery. It was dark and the noises were inconsistent, but he was not afraid. Eyes wide like it would help him see any better, he cautiously moved through the last doorway as the he heard the man suddenly messing with something to his right. If the man was stupid enough to gain this much attention, then he must have had good reason to, and Julian did not like the thought of that.

He moved quickly through the first part of the engineering room and smelled something, some kind of gas. It was… coolant? _What did that man…_ and it hit him. The thought slammed into his brain right as a wrench slammed into his wrist, crushing part of the battery in his right arm and forcing it off of him before the acid burned his flesh any. Now on the defensive, he reeled backward and avoided the next swing, hearing the wrench hit a piece of bulkhead behind him and sending a 'clang' echoing through the room.

Expertly timing his move, he noticed the motion of the wrench start to drag, like he was slightly drugged. It must've been the coolant in the air, because his lungs burned right now. But he nonetheless relied on his training and grabbed the wrist of the man, maneuvering it across his body into a position to throw his adversary over his shoulder and into the same bulkhead victimized by the wrench only moments ago, then twisting it again, snapping it, and twisting it again, maneuvering the body into a position to wrap his arm around the man's neck and choke him out.

Ironically, after the man stopped struggling, a piece of the wall that was damaged by the fight shot out of its housing by a punctured air hose, forcing Julian to duck quickly and bang his head on a protruding piece of pipe. His vision blurred, and his lungs stopped burning.

* * *

Silence overwhelmed him, like he was still floating in space. None of his senses worked, save for his eyes that were slowly beginning to focus. The world around him shimmered into form, and he found himself surrounded by blood. His own blood. A pool of it, himself in the middle. This was not the spacecraft. This was another world. Was he here before? Was this real or some dream world that his mind retreated into?

All self-analysis stopped when he noticed a body. It was unrecognizable, like a body mauled beyond recognition. It was lifeless and slumped over, sitting against a wall protruding from the floor, a gaping, bloody hole in its throat pouring black ooze down its chest. The environment around him manifested itself, but he couldn't work out the details. He just stared at the body, his own failing to move under his command. The eyes were still open, looking at the floor in the distance. And he realized he knew those eyes. They were his. That was him there, perforated and lifeless, beside himself in a pool of his own blood. Or was it his own blood?

And, as if something told him to, he turned his head and saw another body on the other side of him. It was… unrecognizable as well. And this one didn't have eyes. It was lying on its back, its skin pure white and untouched, like a painting preserved through time. He studied the eye sockets, perplexed at why they were empty. And he suddenly saw the pureness in its face, finally recognized its place in the world. It was not supposed to be here, it was not supposed to lie in a pool of blood next to the raggedy corpse of… himself. He felt pained to see it there, the beautiful image of the pale body suddenly disgusting him more than the ravaged figured on display to his left. He reached out to touch it and—

* * *

"Julian! Hey! Snap out of it!"

Thao's face shimmered into focus out of nowhere, taking over his entire field of vision. He was back on the ship again, the lights on and his other teammates around him.

"Got it. I cannot believe someone tried to gas this place." Rictor stopped the coolant leak and updated Thao to the condition of the engine. They had taken the ship without any casualties. Only Tyler and himself sustained any injury, and he was quickly regaining control over his body.

"You alright? We need to get you to sickbay—"

Julian raised his hand in defiance, "No. I mean yes. I… took a nasty bump to the head. Just give me a minute to catch my breath."

Thao looked concerned, but didn't say anything. He just assigned one of the scientists to help him up and check him out while he went to the bridge to help Gregors pilot this rig to Kenton. When the world stopped spinning, Julian tried everything in his power to forget the images in his head, the now vagrant flashes of misery that he soon couldn't piece together again.


	3. Chapter Two: Into the Fire

**CHAPTER TWO: INTO THE FIRE**

The planet of Kenton reflected a lot of sunlight, enough to pour rays of it into the bridge of the Lady Blue, now commanded by Thao Prentice and his men. A short moment of silence took them and allowed for the full absorption of the sight of the planet that could be their final resting place, a giant, floating grave. But it was beautiful, demanding of the silence. It was glowing blue and green, as near 90 of the planet was ocean, with giant, indistinguishable algae fields covering portions of it.

Then the radio clicked, _"Merchant craft foxtrot six-nine-zero, we have you on approach."_

It was the LAAF. It had a warship and numerous patrol vessels in sight. There were not enough to cover the whole planet's orbit, but enough to blockade a good portion of it, and track the majority of its orbit for incoming spacecraft. Several large platform ships was in orbit as well, providing fuel and depots for supply ships to exchange their payloads at the orders of the LAAF, who apparently had a tight cap sealed on this powder keg. Gregors responded per Lyran protocol, "Copy that. The Lady Blue is en-route to Kenton per company orders to supply aid and equipment."

"_Understood. Your landing coordinates are…what was that?"_ and then the voice traveled off like it was talking to someone else. Gregors looked up at Thao, the entire bridge crew tense. The real crew was sedated and stored in the cargo hold, secured so that none would be injured during the flight. The pilot was allowed to remain awake, as Thao's nodding to Mechwarrior Weston told him to retrieve him and bring him up to the front.

"_Foxtrot six-nine-zero, you are to dock with platform vessel five-four for inspection. The landing code and coordinates should be on your screen now."_ Indeed they were. One of the platform ships blinked on the radar screen and a message flashed in the comm relay screen signifying a received message containing the landing code. This was not good.

Gregors frowned momentarily before again looking back at Thao for guidance. "We cannot hide the entire crew from inspection."

Julian spoke up, keeping his head down in contemplation, "We can jettison them…if need be."

"We are not going to kill the entire crew…" Thao looked out the front at the LAAF forces arrayed, again thinking, "And even if we did, this close, they would see it and fire before asking questions."

Gregors' stare did not leave Thao, he wanted a plan.

Just then Weston brought the pilot into the room, his hands bound behind his back. The pilot was placed on his knees and Thao addressed him, "Standard protocol: random ship searches by the LAAF were expected, right?"

The pilot was not really afraid, he just responded, "Yeah. I don't know the numbers, but one out of every so many were to get pulled until the LAAF were totally set up. Looks like they're searching everything coming in now. We tagged all our inventory according to standard Lyran trade code."

That did not help him out much though; the crew was his main concern.

"_Foxtrot six-nine-zero, your confirmation?"_

Thao looked at the ceiling for a moment, inhaling deeply. Then nodded at Gregors. The ship turned slightly to aim itself at the blinking platform ship, Gregors confirming, "Copy that. Coordinates received."

All was quiet while Thao then studied the telemetry readings for a bit and conferred with Gregors, both of them pointing to miscellaneous ships. Weston took the pilot back to the cargo hold and returned in time to see the rest of the team strapped into the seats on the bridge, ready for a bumpy ride. "Did I miss something?"

Tyler tilted his head to the seat next to him, "I saved you a seat."

"Strap in tight," Thao warned, in the seat next to Gregors. Looking around he noticed the scientists almost had a look of concern on their faces, while the Elementals appeared to be looking forward to what may lie ahead. Julian was indifferent as normal, like he could have been on a bus to the cafeteria or something.

"Alright, when I say so, break the route and head for that hole over there." Thao's voice was near mechanical, most of his mental energy expended through his thoughts. The air was tense.

"Go."

They all felt the ship instantly pitch left and accelerate. The comm lit up almost instantaneously, _"Foxtrot six-nine-zero, what are you doing?"_

Gregors didn't answer. The LAAF repeated themselves as the gap they were aiming for started to close with a patrol ship to stop them from floating through. _"Foxtrot six-nine-zero, I say again, what are you doing? Continuing this route will force us to fire on you."_

They just stayed the course until the first sensor chimed in telling them all a target lock was acquired by one of the surrounding ships. Then Gregors did what he did best.

The Lady Blue shot left and accelerated even faster toward the hole the first ship made when trying to intercept them. It was a tiny one, but no one likes a collision in space, as an imploding ship is not attractive to any crew. He simply played chicken with the remaining radar vessel, which moved at the last second. After several moments of even more acceleration, their ship banked sharp to the right as a small barrage of lasers shot through their previous flight path and all hell broke loose behind them. The radio chatter lit up and ships started moving simultaneously. Multiple flashes of light signified lasers being fired at them, forcing Gregors to bank and roll the craft repeatedly in evasion. The speed they were moving at now was quite incredible, but in space, it seemed so slow with nothing around you passing you by. It seemed like slow motion, with Thao and Gregors working the gears in unison. The engines blasted away at full throttle and Rictor suddenly felt some bad motion in his stomach. Gregors was like concrete, and the others could not even tell if he blinked at all since running the line.

Then, out of nowhere, two smaller Lyran aerospace craft lit up on the radar, desperately trying to catch up. "We have pursuit. I am evading!" Rotating his head to pop all the kinks in his neck, Gregors split his attention to the radar, ship readings, and sensors evenly.

The ship rolled to the right violently, jarring one of the scientists and bringing a smile to Vanessa's face. Julian seemed to suddenly wake up and peer over at the radar screens, trying to get a feel for where the pursuers were in relation to them. Both of them were behind, split to cover the ship from both sides. Gregors was a champ though, banking several more times and evading fire from both craft. The look on his face was still blank, though the thoughts inside his head were fairly negative, wanting to shoot back more than anything else.

Then the planet reached up and grabbed them, each and every one of them, and pulled them in. Gently at first, as the gravitational pull of the planet offset the thrusters a little, and then violently as Gregors pitched the craft to take full advantage of the help while decreasing wind resistance by spearing through the upper atmosphere. The air roared around the frame and the bridge heated up as a warm glow appeared in front of the craft. The ship itself started vibrating violently, reminding the team just how helpless they were in the wake of such excitement. The two pursuing craft broke off and Thao's face conveyed the new string of thoughts going through his head. Sensor warnings started going off as the speed was too great for the frame to endure.

Thao turned the rear infrared sensors on and saw nothing but a giant field of white, signifying the heat of the thrusters overwhelming the area right behind the craft. The radar showed the single warship, what looked like a Fox class vessel, altering its course and approaching the planet's upper atmosphere. It was still far enough to where the gravity wouldn't pull it in, but it continued, which worried Gregors and Thao immensely. Gregors, not looking up at him but instead visually concentrating on his own sensor array, "Thao, what gives? You will not see anything on that!"

After another few moments of travel the frame started to creak over the sheer roar of air blasting its way around the nose of the ship, and Thao finally spoke up, "Turn the thrusters off."

"Are you kidding?" Gregors had to nearly scream over the noise, "I cannot control this thing in a freefall!"

Thao turned and yelled at Gregors now, "I said kill the thrusters!"

Gregors, against his better judgment powered them down, and the craft succumbed to the pull of Kenton. Many would think the new silence would be relieving, but the Nighthawks knew better. A tense silence overwhelmed the bridge as the vibrations and air flow were the only things to fill the void left by the crew. Thao just studied the infrared screen as Gregors finally realized what he was doing. Thao zoomed in to the warship and watched the surface for any heat spikes signifying weapon's fire. He knew it was risking approach for a reason, and it was more than likely a few well-placed parting shots. With the armament of that thing, that was all it needed to erase the Nighthawks from existence.

"When I give the word, you punch all we have into banking this thing, quiaff?"

"Aff!" Gregors was now physically exerting himself, trying to keep control over a craft that was drifting. And it happened. A small spike of heat from several of the naval autocannons on the Fox class warship behind them and Thao yelled, "Now!"

Instantly the ship's port thrusters screamed to life, jolting the ship against its natural fall and into a sidespin while the first of the autocannon shells hit the ship's starboard side. The double shock snapped the crew so hard that some struggled to stay conscious. Gregors stopped the thrusters right after the shell hit, sending the craft into a diagonal spin that increased the G-force exponentially, and avoided all the following shots from the now quiet LAAF warship. The Lady Blue looked like it was out of commission as it fell through the cloud cover, and the moment the radar blip of the enemy ship disappeared, Thao yelled at the top of his lungs at Gregors, who was fighting unconsciousness to get the thing back under his control.

The spin sucked the crew against their restraints into the sides of the bridge, as two puked, sending vomit against the walls. Every warning siren screamed for attention as Gregors threw his entire heart and soul into taming this beast.

Thao pointed to the screen as the main continent came into view. They descended through the air into a foreboding abyss as they passed from the light of the system's sun into the dark side of the planet. The fall was long and hard…

* * *

"Sensors? Did we nail that thing?" Kaptain Warrick, the warship commander demanded to know if the rogue ship was downed or not. 

"We had a hit graze the starboard side, but the thing spun out of control afterward. It looks like we blew its thrusters out and made it a falling rock."

"Alright." Satisfied, he prepared his report to Colonel Thames on the ground. It was his problem now.

* * *

Lex Barret snapped back to life in front of his computer. He spent the last several hours compiling his research and preparing to move the needed equipment and supplies to the new research facility set up by Colonel Thames. He tried to do it in one stretch, and eventually fell asleep at his consol. 

Rubbing his eyes, he concluded a visit to the vending machines for some sugar and caffeine was exactly what the doctor ordered. "Screw this," he groaned as stretched his chest out and lifted himself from the chair.

The vending machine actually cooperated this time, not taking his credits and stiffing him for his meal. The coffee was piping hot, something rather annoying to him since he did not relish the idea of searing all of the nerve endings in his mouth to the point of pain. But he figured it would only help wake him up in the short run, even if he couldn't taste his next meal.

Working his way back to his lab he found a woman walking down the hallway he had not seen before. Most of the staff had already moved their stuff to the new facility or were out prepping the new teams coming in. Figuring the interaction would also keep him awake, he stopped her mid-stride. "So I know you?"

She had beautiful eyes. Something about Asians always stood out to him, and she was no exception. "Should you?" Her response was short and sweet, borderline rude, but not bitter.

"Yeah. I'm Lex Barret, head of research here. Who are you with?" He started to unwrap his new snack while shifting his weight so he could face her comfortably.

"I'm with Jennings Co., from Kowloon. The rest of my team is getting their in-briefs. You… you're the head of the cure development team?"

"Yup. Slow moving, but we got the gears going. You get lost then?"

She looked back down the hallway as she replied. He noticed her carrying a bag that did not look like a medical one by any standards he's seen before. "Was looking for the ladies' room. I was sure I'd run into one eventually down this way."

"Well, everything here is unisex. Go down that hall and you'll see one on the left--" Then the lights went out throughout the building. "What the…?"

"You pay the electric bill here?" Her sarcasm was not helping him figure out why the backup generators were not kicking in. Even the emergency lighting was absent, leaving the place near completely dark.

He groaned internally, _just another damned thing to keep me here longer._ "For some reason the backup lighting isn't working. You got a lighter or something on you?"

"I can do you one better," she said as she pulled a small flashlight from her purse.

"Great. The electrical room's down this way. The name is Lex by the way."

"Harley," she replied as she followed him.

He made his way into the electrical room and looked at the local circuits. Nothing was tampered with, and no breakers were off. "Ah crap. It looks like the grid is out or something."

After a moment, he turned around and Harley put her hand on his to keep the flashlight down. Then she grabbed it and turned it off, putting her hand over his mouth to stop him from asking her why she was acting so strange. "Just stay here for a second…" she said as she made her way back to the hallway. Standing in the darkness, a chill shot down his spine.

* * *

Ashley lucked out when she packed her bag. She put a set of mini night vision goggles in there to compliment her security bypass kit and high-density plastic combat knife. She was in the main medical headquarters in Danner to retrieve a sample of the virus, which was not an easy thing due to the military security increasing throughout the city. Gennis had achieved most of his objectives already, with his operation to secure his 'shopping list' from Kael Pershaw going as smoothly as one could ask. All they needed now before the Nighthawks showed up was the actual virus, which was all on her. 

She did not, however, plan on running into the head of research for the planet of Kenton, and did not plan on what she saw coming down the hallway right now. Three commandos with their own night vision goggles and full combat dress silently moved down the hallway, clearing each room as they went with absolute efficiency. Each had a sub-machine gun with a silencer on it and was about eighty meters away when she moved back into the electrical room to Lex, who was surprisingly waiting for her patiently. If he was who he said he was, then she wanted to make sure he got out of here alive. _The more people working on a cure, the better for everyone._

Whispering, "You need to get out of here." She again stopped him from speaking and led him, as confused as he was, into the hallway right when the team cleared another room. They made their way another twenty meters to an exit door to realize it was locked. His security card did not work since the electronic lock was not working to disengage. She looked back around the corner and found the team continuing to move. So far they have not spotted her.

She dug into her boot and pulled at a magnesium strip used to cut through locks, and applied it to the door. In the dark, Lex's eyes finally adjusted to their fullest, giving him just a little vision to work with, but not enough to gather the situation. When the power to the building went out, everything turned off. There was no light source within the hallway whatsoever.

The sizzle of the strip burning through the door tensed him up as he knew she was moving so quietly for a reason. And then there was a 'clang' and she pushed the door open.

* * *

The three commandos heard the noise of the door opening and quickly made their way over to check the situation out, their only objective at this point securing the west side of the building. After the lead man examined the burn surface in the door jam, he signaled for the other two to enter and fan out. 

They worked their way methodically through the first room, it being the entryway for the external storage room built into this structure four years ago. It was not much lighter in here, but it was just enough that rays of moonlight shined in through the splits in the corners and ceiling, creating eerie contour lines over several surfaces that glistened in the light amplification goggles of the commandos.

Still making no noise, they each turned their heads as the far door opened, Lex Barret running through it and slamming it shut again. The light shining through temporarily blinded two of them who quickly turned their heads to avoid the sharp burst of white from burning their retinas. While the goggles themselves had sudden light dampeners installed, it was still an instinct they were trained to hone in. The third saw it coming and averted his eyes before the burst, tearing his goggles off and returning his face forward with his gun up and ready.

That is when Ashley slid her legs down from the ceiling support bar she was hanging from and tightened her thighs around the rear guy's neck. The snap was barely audible, but the thud of the lifeless body hitting the floor was not as she sprang to life to jab the second commando in the throat when he turned his head in response. Moving herself to the left, she put the second commando between her and the one with his weapon at ready and kicked him in the crotch and chin sequentially. Grabbing the man's shoulders and jumping, she literally flipped over him like a swinging weight and slid her knife into the back of his neck when her body began its descent, pulling it out when her feet hit the floor and throwing it at the third man who ducked while firing, sending multiple flashes through the room and punching holes through the steel roof with the stray shots.

A leg sweep forced the man to jump as she moved like water, fluid and ever changing directions. He tried to track her with his rifle, but she moved through the strands of light by the moon and her smooth contours played with his eyes as she closed the distance and forced her passing through the light to mess with his focus, like optical illusions do when staring through a chain link fence at night. With her in too close, he chose to lose his sub-machine gun and pull his own knife, a black Teflon coated combat blade.

Several swipes at her forced her to flow around the thrusting blade like a shadow as she finally grabbed his arm and broke his elbow and struck his armpit at the same time, sending surges of pain into his body. In the new fight or flight mode adopted my most mammals when confronted with death, the commando kicked his legs out at full force, nailing Ashley in the chest and separating the two by several meters. Then his radio lit up, and he moved back to disappear in the maze of crates.

She followed, this entire combat not being louder than the few 'twangs' of the sub-machine gun's ammo perforating the roof. After three turns she literally ran into something that knocked her to her back. And upon further inspection, she realized it was a man. Not the third commando… this one was more robust, and stood with confidence.

She slowly got up, completely losing her initiative and realizing the showdown situation brewing. Popping her neck, she sidestepped slowly a few times to get a feel for her surroundings. She kept a mental note of where her knife may have landed when the new body lunged at her.

She jumped to her right, putting a crate between her and her attacker. But to her shock and surprise, he just blasted through the crate after her, sending multiple wooden shards out in her direction and knocking it from its stack altogether, sending a deafening 'crash' through the storage room.

Not one to lose her momentum, she continued backward, with the man jumping for her and landing on the crate next to her! She ducked just in time to feel his foot sweep near her head with blazing speed and back flipped several times to gain more distance. On the final flip, she landed into another object, one that grabbed her and threw her into another stack of crates! The same commando somehow managed to out maneuver her over the boxes and land in her path.

She was through messing around. Pulling both of her small reserve knives, a combat saving scenario weapon duo that she learned from Julian, she hit a fighting stance and perked her attention to the man squatting low in front of her. A low growl emanated from his throat, and he was perfectly still in contrast to her heaving chest and the rhythmic timing in her head she kept for the breathing she was consciously slowing down. She calmed herself to the point of combat calmness, or what Tasaki Sensei referred to as activating your sixth sense: sensing the harmful intent of your adversary in order to project his next move. She achieved this, despite the thunderous footsteps of battlemechs outside and multiple sirens announcing their appearance.

His next move came soon, in the form of a forward lunge right at her center body. Avoiding it, she swung both of her knives at him, catching one on his shoulder and having her other hand caught in his. He then twisted her arm to force the knife from her grasp and she moved with it to set herself up for the escape. Not one to be out grappled, she broke his grasp and exploited a weakness in his stance, allowing her to grab the skin behind his neck with her koshi grip and literally pull some of it off, following with a spin kick to his chest to gain some distance once again.

Several explosions and people screaming outside created a chaotic world outside theirs. In between them, there were no sounds, no distractions. Just the life and death battle between two master combatants.

She did notice however, the skin in her hand was cold and it did not have any blood in it, something she did not expect or experience in all her years of combat. The moment of shock was all that was needed for the man to cover the distance between them and punch her in the chest, breaking two ribs and sending her into the outer metallic wall, knocking what wind was left in her out. An elbow to the face released any control she had over her equilibrium and she would have fallen down if he did not grab her and swing her into the nearest pile of piping and gears. The impact to her head and other numerous parts of her body stunned her to the point that she thought she was watching an action holovid as opposed to living through this combat.

The sounds seemed to mute out and the color dulled to a slight fuzziness that reeked of a poor projection lens. Because of that, the fiery explosion that ripped the wall open behind the man and the subsequent kicking of the rest of it down by a _Centurion_ battlemech did not seem all that fantastic. The commando himself merged with the shadows created by the fires around her and several men rushed in with assault rifles and helmets to secure her, failing to notice his escape altogether.

They bound her arms and drug her off to a transport vehicle. By the time she regained all of her senses, she was alone in the back of a vehicle, bound and broken. Her chest still burned from the broken ribs as her mind raced to catch up to her situation. It could not run fast enough. But the mere effort told her she was alive.

* * *

"Gregors!" Thao tried to get his pilot's attention. After a moment, Gregors turned his head in response. "We have to get moving." 

He understood of course, but needed a second to get his bearings back. The landing was definitely more of a controlled crash than anything else. In truth, it was magnificent that he was able to keep the bridge from collapsing on impact, timing the ground approach just right with the tilt and compensating for all the turbulence. But he was hard on himself, albeit his own worst critic. And the shock and strain of the experience was enough to slow him down for a bit.

Weston came back into vocal range, yelling through a collapsed corridor for Thao. "Star Captain! The crew…"

A slight look of anguish overcame Thao's face momentarily as he feared the worst. He got up and worked his way out of the battered bridge into the cool night air. "Brevan, you have command here. I want everyone out and mobile with our gear in five."

"Aff. You heard him! Anything broken will get set when we get out of this thing. Anyone uninjured gets our gear and preps it on the starboard side." Brevan worked his voice like he would a battlemech, with panache and confidence. "Move it!"

Thao worked his way into the cargo bay where Mechwarrior Weston waited for him. There he saw the crew strewn about, some crushed under the weight of the crashed ship bulkhead, others lie still in their places, multiple bruises and signs of internal bleeding apparent on their skin. "Holy shit. How many survived?"

Weston, looking grim, replied, "Two. One will not live long, I cannot stop his bleeding. The other… well, look for yourself."

Thao peered around the corner of some debris and found the rightful pilot of the craft buried in his seat. It appeared to have partially folded around him during the ground impact, pinching his head into his shoulders, no doubt breaking parts of his spine in the process. He struggled to breath and dried blood caked up around his mouth. One eye was bloodshot and the other was clear. Only the clear one looked at Thao, the other one stared in the direction it was locked into. He tried to speak, but failed.

Thao cursed inside his head. In actuality, he simply planned on setting an IV system up with tranquilizer and packing the crew into transport crates to be opened whenever inventory went through it all planet side. By the time they were noticed, Thao's team would have been done with its mission and heading off planet. Or so was the plan. The security fiasco in low orbit negated that plan entirely. This was, as painful as it was to admit, a solution to the dead weight of the crew now.

Thao jumped at the sound of a pistol firing near him. The rear half of the head of the injured pilot blew out into the seat's compact space, containing the mess of skull and brain fragments.

Turning in defense, Thao found Julian with a pistol raised as he turned it to the man who was bleeding to death. With no verbal objections from his commander, Julian pulled the trigger again, releasing the dying man from any more pain. Then left, never saying a word.

"Well shit, I guess that is that." Weston turned around and joined his team outside.

Thao shook his head in frustration. They were dying. Any other day he would have done it himself without a second thought. But this night was going to hell real fast, and he guessed he just wanted to avoid adding 'necessary murder' to his list of accomplishments for the time being. After all, they were simply coming here to help the people of Kenton in the first place. Probably heroes in their hometowns.

Inhaling to reset himself, he left the bay and found his team outside waiting for him. Evan, the microbiologist broke his arm and Tyler had a concussion, but was up and moving. _So far, so good,_ he tried to tell himself.

* * *

The hike was about what he expected. Julian, Brevan, and Gregors were ordered to 'erase' the ship as effectively as possible. They set up several charges near the oxygen tanks, fuel tanks, and inside the bridge to destroy any clues to their existence and origin. They caught up to the rest of them without much effort and assumed their marching positions, with Julian traveling three hundred meters ahead of them and Brevan covering the rear. The scientists were in the middle with their elemental escorts. They were out well before the lights over the horizon told of search teams inspecting the crash site. 

After nineteen kilometers, Julian radioed Thao and had them hunker down for a moment. Thao joined him on the hillcrest he positioned himself on, low crawling up to him and grabbing the binoculars from him upon arrival. "What have we got?"

Thao saw several Lyran battlemechs walking away from them down a road to their left, with several civilian vehicles trailing behind them. Several crowds of civilians walked with personal belongings, grouping into families, with the fathers carrying larger bags and mothers holding the young. There were at least two hundred of them, if not more. "I count one Lyran patrol lance: two _Jenners_, a _Clint_, and a _Bushwacker_ holding the rear. I do not know the route intervals."

"What are all these people doing?" Thao zoomed in on some of them, trying to get a better feel for what he was looking at. The people seemed dirty, like they have been walking for quite some time. A few slow moving vehicles were among them, mostly carrying baggage and the elderly.

"Well, word was an infection wiped out the capitol city, quiaff? We are probably looking at uninfected refugees from the surrounding towns."

"But the report said the whole _region_ was wiped out. We are talking about everything on that third of the continent." Thao handed the binoculars back to Julian.

"Then I do not know. But they are definitely heading toward Danner. Maybe there is a planetary evacuation call. With the infrastructure as bad as I would imagine it being, we should see more of this as we get closer."

"Perhaps." Then the two of them heard some rustling behind them. Julian instantly rolled onto his back and aimed his pistol at the approaching visitors. His finger tensed as his mind reeled at what he saw. All his combat experience did not prepare him for the sight of two children cowering behind a mother and father stricken with fear and surprise. Being trueborn, Thao was shocked at the instant mode of sacrifice adopted by the parents in regard to their children. Julian stayed steady with his pistol trained on the father. There was a calm in his eyes, though there always was, regardless if he were going to kill someone or pull them from a fire.

But Thao knew he was no killer. Not like some would have thought back in the cargo hold of the ship not but hours ago. Julian dropped the barrel of his pistol enough to release the family from his field of fire, but did not put it away.

"Keep moving!" Thao yelled to them. He did not need them to give away their position, and he hoped some kind of intimidation would help them keep their mouths shut long enough for him to relocate his team.

They scuffled off quickly, with Thao telling his team to advance to one hundred meters from their location. "What now then?" he asked Julian.

"We should head right and around over there, through that patchy forest area. We cannot blend in with these people. We make our way around to the left about one kilometer from here and follow that crest line to Danner."

"Like going around your elbow to get to your ass…" Thao thought to himself aloud while waving the rest of the team up. It was time to get moving again under the cover of darkness.

* * *

Ashley awoke in a dark room devoid of sound. A cold mattress was under her, decrepit to the point a spring punched through the outer layer and poked her in her lower back. Her recent memory came back to her in waves, the most recent incidents first. Of course, it wasn't until she remembered the older events that she could piece everything together in an understanding of her predicament. 

She was knocked out after a moderate interrogation session by this rebel militia group. Some man named Christopher drilled her for questions about the virus, where it came from, and why the Lyrans wanted to test it on the people of Kenton. She, of course, knew none of those answers, so it made it infinitely easier to avoid telling him anything. Besides, they were armatures at intelligence gathering, though she gave them a gold star for effort. The thing that bothered her was that they kept asking her what she did with all the samples of the virus. She only took two vials, leaving the rest. So if they were all gone by the time they stormed the place, then it had to do with those commandos. And that notion did not sit well with her. Not after facing off with that behemoth of a man in the storage room. And to top that, none of these men had the equipment or uniforms of the commandos, telling her that more than one op was going on in front of her. It was so confusing.

She did catalogue everything she heard in the background as well. The facility she was in wasn't soundproofed, so when the men took breaks questioning her, she had time to hear the commander talk about some informant they had, claiming that he was privy to the LAAF operations, that Lyrans were trying to weaponize it. He supposedly gave them the details on how to get into the Danner Medical Research Facility. But they didn't know who 'he' was.

Regardless, it was doing her no good to be shackled in captivity. She slipped her hands, which were still bound behind her back around her feet so she could bring them up in front of her. Then she worked the cuffs with the end of the spring that stuck up out of the mattress and unlocked them, careful not to agitate her lower ribs. Some movements still hurt immensely, and she quickly learned which ones.

Next was the fun part, getting word to her commander. She untied her right combat boot and worked the thin rubber layer off the sweet spot in an indent in the sole. It revealed a slip that was installed between the battery and the contact points for the single use transmitter in the bottom part of her footwear. The equipment was rather primitive considering modern communication technology, being able to only record a single message and surge it through a pre-determined frequency. It was undetectable due to the small amount of metal used in manufacturing it and the fact that the battery was not connected.

She pulled the slip to activate the device and recorded the message from the top of her head. She had limited memory space within the device to work with, but she knew what she was doing.

"Two-Six lead, this is Alpha Sierra Hotel. Been captured by indigenous militia rebels. Location unknown. Left sample at initial retrieval site. LFT active in carrier for tracking. Possible second private party accounted for, details unknown. Caution."

Then she smacked her boot on the ground to activate the sending sensor, and waited a minute before putting the boot back on her foot and lacing it up. The door unlocked and Christopher Shroeder entered with his sidearm.

"Who were you talking to?"

"What are you talking about?" she asked innocently as she slipped the crumpled plastic strip into her pocket.

He closed the distance and lifted his gun to her head, "Don't play _games_ with me. I heard you speak. Now you either tell me what is going on or I kill you here and now."

Silently, she just stared him in the eyes, completely fearless. She could have disarmed him right now, having her hands free, but she chose to stare him down. That look in her eyes… it told him that death was not a concern to her. That absence of any concern triggered some kind of primitive understanding. He knew she would not speak. Killing her would not accomplish anything.

Then one of his subordinates entered the doorway and told him that he had an incoming message from one of their contacts that he needed to hear.

Frustrated, he left the silent stare down and ordered the troop to rebind her and search the room for communications equipment. Three other men filed in behind the trooper, guns aimed at her. She knew she couldn't outrun that many bullets at once. She cooperated, for now.

* * *

Two buildings away, in an air conditioning compartment on a roof, hidden from the mid-day sun, a man injected some of the most potent pain killers in the known galaxy into his bloodstream. Moving ever so slightly, he let the euphoria die down, enjoying the only sensation he's had in the last 24 hours since his nerves have been deadened for over three years now. He rubbed the back of his neck, actually enjoying the fact that the person he fought not but eleven hours ago was good enough to get a souvenir out of him. 

His audio sensor blipped and he adjusted the microwave receiver in the direction of the room holding Ashley. It picked up instant radio static and recorded all twelve seconds of it.

He ran the static through his decoders to find that it was just that: static. But two other frequencies showed irregular spikes and drops within that time. No one would have noticed if they had not been under surveillance as well for the last several hours to compare to the twelve seconds of activity. He ran both frequencies through his decoder filters, and worked with the program for a minute. After he was satisfied he got an audible recording, he played it to himself. _"Two-Six lead, this is Alpha Sierra Hotel. Been captured by indigenous militia rebels…"_

He contacted his commander through his own encoded frequency, "Commander, this is Wraith. She looks to be part of another covert op unit."

"_Someone else landed here? Are you sure?"_

"Positive. She was not rescued by the splinter group, but captured. They thought she was a scientist working here on Kenton. But the transmission I just sent over to you tells otherwise."

After a few moments, his commander responded, _"Alright. It looks like she left her team a package back at the lab. I'll take care of things on this end, just keep an eye on her."_

"Copy that. Are we still making the call?"

"_That is affirmative. We have your coordinates. We proceed at 0517 local the day after tomorrow. Set up the recorders at least one hour prior, and keep minimal safe distance."_

"Don't worry about me."

"_Never do. Out."_

* * *

Three of Gennis' men circled the area that used to be the Danner Medical Research Center twice in their vehicle. Normal procedure would include one of them getting out and scouting ahead while the other performs over watch, but time was not something they had to work with. 

The rubble still burned in some parts, and they had to wait for the municipal fire trucks to depart. The whole area was cordoned off, making it that much more difficult to get in there unseen. But their sensor reader showed Ashley's bag to be just two hundred meters from the nearest rope-off.

Two of them got out and ran to a patch of rubble, checking the sensor reader until they homed in on their prize. One stood watch while the other knelt down and very carefully removed the debris and retrieved the bag. Looking inside, he confirmed the samples. He contacted Gennis over the radio, "Team Lead, this is Kilo Yankee Lima. Package secured. Do we proceed with alternate plan A or B?"

They waited a moment, and Gennis responded, _"Proceed with alternate plan B. Team Lead out."_

Immediately the two of them headed for the vehicle and left the area, dropping Mechwarrior Kyler off three blocks away with the samples before moving out toward the city limits.

Kyler made his way on foot for a while, checking over his shoulder often before moving underground and changing his route as he was trained to do. He did not notice anything out of the ordinary.

The car, however, had a tail. The tail was good too, evading their notice for the first twelve minutes of driving before almost running into a barricade across the road leading from the city. Putting it in reverse, Gennis' troops tried to back out of the situation before several armed men appeared with high-powered rifles and perforated the vehicle with its inhabitants. It was quick, and the men again disappeared into the fog forming near the city valley in the afternoon sun, leaving the steaming pile of metal a silent tomb to be found later.

* * *

Barret should have been tired, but he was strangely renewed. The near death experience in his lab yesterday spiked new questions, which fueled his mind. He quickly made his way around the last corner and stopped in front of Colonel Thames' office, where a single guard stood and nodded him in. This was a new guard, as he didn't shout Barret's arrive through the doorway like the last one. 

Lex entered and heard Thames talking to Harrison, "… test group four bravo is at a 3 ½ hour fatality rate. This was the un-augmented viru—Dr. Barret, have my men debriefed you yet?"

He meant to say interrogate. After the incident at the Danner Medical Research Center, he was surrounded by medics and officers trying to leach every ounce of information out of him. He didn't mind at first, but then it almost felt like they thought he was hiding something. He was more annoyed than anything else. "Yes. They did it several times."

Waving Harrison off, he finished what conversation they had welcomed Lex up to one of his chairs. "Harrison, get me the results of the search and rescue team. Everything."

With a nod he left, leaving Lex to ask what that was about.

"Some ship tried to run the blockade yesterday. It crashed in the main continent about 640 kilometers from here. A security breach from the _outside_ is the last thing we need. But it is all a precaution. You have had some rough times yourself. You didn't get a look at who did that to the lab?"

The one detail Lex left out of the interrogations was the woman. _Harley was it?_ Something about her intrigued him, and his gut told him that having her hunted down wasn't going to be as productive as chasing down the men that blew the place up. He wasn't the military man, and maybe it was bad for him to hide things. But years of medical practice told him to trust his instincts. "No. The power was cut locally and I was out of there before the 'mechs arrived."

"How many samples were stored in the compound?"

"Of the White Death? Just the originals we had when you landed. Nine vials in storage and three cultured for study. I'm just glad the damage to the building didn't puncture the lab."

"Aren't we all?" Thames took a seat behind his desk, a large wooden one that foretold of his position and authority. "How is progress?"

Lex was immediately carted off to his new lab after the 'debriefings' to oversee the study of controlled infections in the first few prisoner subjects. The results were disturbing to say the least.

"As planned. The projected incubation time was accurate enough. The prisoners were generally in better health than the people in Kenton City, and this increased their time after initial infection by over half an hour. Either than that, the samples we have are telling us a lot."

"Like what?"

"It is in the initial report. I can upload it here to your consol if you want—"

"I'd rather hear it from you." Thames sat back and crossed his legs, then tilted his head forward and gently interlocked his fingers, preparing for Lex's presentation.

"Well, the virus is small. It is only 9 nanometers long, which is why it bypassed all our filters."

"How good are they?"

"The new Hentrex series 6m mask is compatible with all current market filters, the best one filtering down to 12 nanometers. Anything smaller than that has had… production difficulties. It's been like that for a few hundred years."

Thames shook his head in submissive frustration, "Figures. All the technology in the world…"

"Our bio suits still stop it though. We don't have enough for every team to be prepped, but we have enough right now for the research crew and command personnel."

Thames nodded, okaying him to continue.

"It enters through the lungs, but can also reach you through any open wounds. Through all the studies we done thus far, it looks like it replicates through our erythrocytes."

Thames shot a look of confusion over at Lex, who felt inclined to elaborate further on the terminology. "Our red blood cells. Those are the ones that carry oxygen to all our organs, which explains why the victims suffer from fatigue so quickly and black out well before actual death."

Now understanding, "There isn't a way we can fortify them?"

Lex shook his head, "The rate of replication is way too fast. Our bone marrow alone can make almost a million new **erythrocytes** a minute, which seems like a lot. But once the virus gets into the marrow, we see a drastic decrease in productivity."

"A million a minute? That isn't fast enough to replace the lost ones?" Thames was taken aback. He was a numbers man, but lacked comprehension in hematology.

So Lex broke it down simply for him, "Trust me, it eats them that fast. We're looking at about 1.5 billion new red blood cells a day before the marrow is hit, and only 56 million a day after. Add that to the fact that just one of these viruses produces hundreds more from a single replication and you see where I'm going. It overwhelms us _quick._ In actuality, it has the shortest reproduction time in recorded history. We really unleashed something here."

Looking grim, Thames tried to shift gears. "All the samples were taken from the lab. You escaped just in time, but the specimens were extracted before the place went up."

Lex's face went white. He had a feeling that was the case, but he didn't know for sure. He kept trying to figure out what happened after the attack, but no one filled him in on any of the details.

"And…", Thames watched Lex's face narrow as his brain prepared him to hear even worse information, "we had a lot of lab equipment stolen yesterday."

"What? What kind of equipment?"

Thames just handed Lex a datapad containing the list. It included high-powered microscopes, culture sets, refurbished chemical suits, protein synthesizers and incubators, pretty much everything you'd find in a research lab. "My god…"

"Look, Doctor," Thames leaned over his desk, "this is privileged information. If word got out that some militant group stole that thing AND got its hands on all this equipment, this whole planet would erupt in chaos. You need to keep on your research and keep me updated. Is there anyone else on Kenton who could work that equipment and mess with this White Death?"

Lex's head was still trying to comprehend all the catastrophic scenarios, his response was near robotic, "No. I mean, none that weren't killed in Kenton City."

"Hmm…" Thames thought to himself aloud, "Well someone knew just what to get, and bypassed all my security to get it. Keep your eyes open."

* * *

Entering his new testing facility after traveling from the new LAAF headquarters, Lex sat down and opened the latest batch of test data. Again he had to push the thought from his mind that a human died to obtain it, much like he does every time he opens one of these. He used that regret to fuel him to work harder. _If only animals were enough, heh, even calebs…_ and it hit him like a brick. _The calebs!_

Studying the caleb epidemic from before, he noticed that every farmer complained about them being tired, falling over in exhaustion suddenly before dying. The locals were so afraid to get whatever killed the calebs that they kept their distance for a while before burning them from afar. Those things lied there for several days before being incinerated though.

He started to pull up some of his old files. _They didn't have any chem. suits. If that was it, how did they not get infected?_ He immediately got his chief tech on the phone. "Howl, I want you collect airborne agent samples from the air inside the test chambers. Line them up and isolate them in environments with varied oxygen densities. I want to know how long they live outside the body."

"_Sir, we already have some under surveillance for that reason."_

"I want varied atmospheres for them. Pump some full of pure oxygen if you can."

"_Okay. We're working on it."_

Lex knew that when you burn something it depletes the oxygen in the air. This thing hit soon after the caleb fields of outer Kenton City were incinerated to eliminate the corpses of infected cattle. It was a long shot, but if there was a connection, he may be able to use it to his advantage. But he needed a live caleb to verify if they were the carriers or not. Something was wiping them out, making them a rare sight anymore. So he figured he would have to use what he had at his disposal to find a live one. He got on the phone with Colonel Thames.

* * *

Gennis peered out the small opening he made in the blinds of his window and let his eyes adjust to the setting sun. The view overlooked one of the two surrounding towns of Danner. The towns were like small cities, mostly inhabited by the families of the miners and the schools, stores, and recreation sites for them. There were not a lot of tall buildings here, which made surveillance a bit easier, but hiding a lot harder. They found an office building that closed down a while ago due to budget cuts that shorted a civilian ran publication. Everything was now controlled by PSI, and the offices for the private publisher set up by the locals was simply abandoned. 

Things were looking well before, but took a turn for the worst today. The 26th got all the equipment available at the first site, setting up a preliminary lab for the arriving scientists, but still lacked some of the non-bio medical items at the bottom of the list. Security was more than tripled since their heist.

Then Ashley received the virus samples, but was abducted in the process. Her message indicated that another team may have landed here, on top of the militia active in the area.

Then his runners didn't call in. That was disturbing him the most.

His team was performing as expected, but three unaccounted for at the moment, including Ashley, was a real morale breaker. He would have to alter some of his plans now.

He studied the streets, noticing some people running with baseball bats and lead pipes, yelling in unison. Then an explosion vibrated the building ever so slightly. It was far away, the flash of it not bright enough to shock his eyes. A small group of locals were rioting to protest the Lyran occupation. They blew up a gas station, and the black smoke plumed into the air in the distance while the rioters shouted. Two LAAF battlemechs approached from Danner to support the Lyran infantry sent to quiet them down. Luckily, the area around his building was not in any position to gain attention. He hoped it would stay that way.

Looking further to his left he noticed the reflection of his encoded receiver on the desk behind him blinking a message to him. He knew it would go off when the Nighthawks found them, but thought they would take longer. Had he been standing here so long, thinking?

He turned to his desk and momentarily stopped breathing. A man was in the room with him, not but seven feet away, staring right into his eyes. Normally he would have drawn his side arm and reacted with the utmost prejudice, but the man's eyes… they coldly studied him with startling familiarity, like they belonged to the only person he knew that could sneak up on him like that. They reminded him of Ashley's, and he put two and two together. "You… are from the Nighthawks?"

Julian just stared at him a moment longer, watched his pupil dilation, his muscle tension, breathing. He concluded Gennis' curiosity was not a cover for time, it was genuine. He touched the mic on his throat piece and spoke, "Clear."

Then he relaxed his body a bit, never taking his hand too far from his sheathed knife. He motioned his head toward the blinking sensor, "It has been going off for ten minutes."

Gennis, realizing what happened, was more embarrassed that he was caught off guard than anything else, "Aff… I was…"

Then his comm lit up, _"Star Commander, the 32nd is here and is requesting entry. Their code is validated."_ Yeah, they didn't receive a response upon approach and sent a forward scout in to check it out.

He responded, "Let them in."

Julian turned away as Gennis spoke up, "I take it you are Star Captain Julian Buhallin?"

"Aff."

"How did you get in here through everything?"

Julian went to the door to open it, "Thao helped Kael write the new security protocols. You cannot fool the author that wrote the book."

Surprised at the response, Gennis just concluded that this man was indeed a strange one, and left it at that. Thao entered through the door, looking as rough as Julian in his combat uniform. He approached Gennis and shook his hand, "Star Captain Thao Prentice, 32nd Spec Ops unit. Present and accounted for."

"Star Captain Gennis Newclay, 26th. How did you make it here so fast?"

Thao watched Julian pull the blinds from the same window Gennis was looking from moments ago and peer outside, "Our entry was… a little faster than planned. Do you have our stuff?"

"We have most of it, but the other equipment is in a complex that the Lyrans secured. We did not have time to get it all before you showed up."

"Well, we are here now to provide some extra manpower. That equipment is top priority. How is your team?"

Julian kept the blinds pulled, but turned his head to watch Thao and Gennis talk as he suddenly took interest. Gennis updated him, "Three of my troops are gone. Two of them I sent as runners to get a carrier, but they failed to check in at their appointed time."

"Do you think they are compromised?"

Gennis almost sighed, but didn't. "They are my most capable men, so if they are not, then I expect results."

"How do you know what the carrier is?"

Gennis shifted his weight, not moving much at all since turning to find Julian, "We studied the local news and found out that a large portion of their food source here is being wiped out. That little epidemic apexed shortly before the viral outbreak in Kenton City. We suspect it has a lot to do with this thing."

Thao looked impressed, "You think it was the food source then?"

"Well, something in its ecosystem, that is for sure. The least they can do is reconnoiter the area and report back. It is a start."

"What about the third?" Julian spoke up, looking back out the window again.

Gennis was solemn, "My infiltrator, Star Commander Ashley. She got us some samples of the virus, but was captured by a local militia in the process."

Thao's eyes perked up a bit, "Oh? Are they working with the Lyrans?"

"Neg. This is an indigenous force. They seem to think the Lyrans are up to no good and are staging a resistance. At least from what I can tell."

There was a short silence, then Gennis continued, "She reported another possible team here. Affiliation unknown, but I have never had her speculate something that serious and be wrong before."

"Another team? Who could have landed people past that blockade?" Thao's mind worked, but soon left that thought behind for later as it moved to more current problems. "Is a retrieval op in the works?"

Gennis hated to say it, "Neg. I did not have the resources to get her out. I just finished with the plans to get the rest of your equipment."

"Understood. Damn." Thao may have tried to figure out how to have his cake and eat it too, but he was exhausted and leaned on the plans of the commander who's been on the ground the longest.

"I have the primary storage site for it mapped out. If you want, we can have a team over there tomorrow, I could use the help." Gennis walked over to his desk and pulled up the map of the area containing several buildings and a small Lyran patrol.

"Julian, report downstairs and get your head checked out. And get some rest."

While Julian wanted to deny needing any, that knock on the head with the gases on the Lady Blue did shake him up a bit. Some rest and a thorough checkup would definitely be the best course of action. After a quiet hesitation, he left the room.

Gennis just looked at Thao, "Is he always that quiet?"

Thao thought about it, and sighed, "Yep."

* * *

Another dream. No, a flashback. Julian did not dream often, or if he did, they always slipped from his memory at the last moment. 

He found himself watching a scene from his past, back on Ironhold during the summer months. He was sitting against a tree trunk on a hill reading a book, on break from all the training. Ashley, younger then as well approached him from below, curious.

"What are you reading?" Her voice traveled smoothly through the cool air. There was a light breeze and just enough cloud cover to make this world look like a painting. Maybe it was truly serene like that, or maybe it was his mind remembering it that way.

"Yeats," was his only response, trying not to break his reading stride.

Taking a seat next to him, finally relaxing well-worked muscles, she had to ask, "Poetry? How can you fill your head with that garbage?"

After a moment, he finished reading and turned his head to look at her. In all seriousness, "So I can find strength in my pain, and use it."

"What does that mean?" All of her training at this stage was physical and tactical. She hadn't had the psychological portion of it yet. Like it really mattered though, no training Kael Pershaw had set up for her included philosophy. That was a realm dead to the clans, who had no use of anything they could not deal with directly.

At first, having a trainer so… disconnected with the clan way of life was disheartening to her. But she grew to be intrigued by the inner-workings of this man's mind. It was truly unique, and Kael put up with it for some reason.

"Hopefully, you will understand that in time."

The scene shifted quickly, like paint running down a wall and reforming into another image, near colorless and streaked like a musty brick wall. It was three months later, when she entered the capture portion of her training. She was thrown into numerous interrogation scenarios, each with increasing intensity. This was the final one, and Julian himself administered the torture. Kael figured the truest test of competence was to beat the teacher with his own lessons.

The sessions were hard, lasting over a week straight, with no sleep and minimal water for her. The room itself was small and dark, like an ancient dungeon that smelled of mold and rancid meat. The heat in the room made her hallucinate on occasion, and the tools used were a mix of high-tech pain inducing equipment and some archaic, albeit barbaric instruments. Julian stayed up with her the whole time, never leaving, stopping no longer than an hour at a time. His endurance would have astounded her if she were not the subject of such treatment, making him the enemy. She had only to reveal her clan and LZ coordinates. She concealed that information in blood, literally.

She could not crack, however. What Kael did not realize was that she used Julian's presence and performance as an inspiration to continue. That was the level she wanted to reach.

But a week straight was a long time. His eyes never softened, he never showed emotion. And she gave into doubt. Then the room chilled quickly, the temperature actually dropping over twenty degrees in stark contrast to the intense heat she dealt with so far. Her bones ached, having been tied into several positions and stretched to the point of dislocation. He reset each of them in sequence, making the sudden cold she had not felt in over a week near throw her muscles into shock. Her mind slowed, started to think about her disposition differently. He administered the searing hot water slowly, in drips. It was not enough to burn her, but it quickly sent spikes of pain through her body and then froze into her skin, killing the nerves as it ate deep. Her mind started to fear the damage being done. She could not feel all the pain anymore, was she really dying? Was she supposed to fail at some point? If she could not move afterward, even if she passes, she would be useless. How much of her was still useful? Was the absence of pain worse than the pain itself anymore?

Her thoughts drifted, carrying her mind like a log in a river around several bends until it was truly submerged. And she was about to give in. She didn't even realize it, or did she? Was it subliminal or conscious? It was then that Julian looked her in the eyes. His were not cruel this moment, not hardened like they have been the last several days. Was she imagining him like that? Was he truly with her or against her? Then his voice crept its way into her world, such a gentle whisper, "Remember what I said about all that garbage in your head." And she floated, floated for a while until she was on the hill again, listening to him speak about his pain and his strength being one.

Her mind hardened at once, and she passed the training. Another two whole days of it, but she never broke. And he never went easy on her. Not once did he let up. She did it on her own, never knowing if he really said anything to her or not. She did owe it to him, but her pain is hers to control. In that moment of realization in the room with Julian, her body slipping from her grasp and the act setting every muscle in her face on fire, she smiled at him.

* * *

Then he awoke, in the building the 26th secured on Kenton. He was in fantastic shape. The two doctors took a few moments aside to fully check out his head from that bump on the Lady Blue, then gave him some drugs to relax and recharge. He felt like a million bucks after a nap. Or was it a nap? Looking around, he realized he must've been out for near eight hours. 

It was late morning the next day, the rays of the sun already shining in through the outsides of the window covers of the room he chose to sleep in.

He emerged to see the lab they 26th set up, Evan and Trevor both discussing the fruits of the night's labors. Julian listened in as he moved around the equipment quietly.

"You added adrenal stimulants as well?" Trevor was holding a nasty looking injector device, with several cylinders sticking out at regular intervals connecting to one needle at the bottom. It was not as compact as anything Julian would like to carry with him, and it had at least five different substances in there.

"Yeah, we're going to need something to circulate the white blood cell booster and the rehydrating solution _before_ this virus overtakes the bloodstream." The microbiologist was solid in his reasoning, though Trevor was skeptical through logic.

"Sounds off to me, since you may circulate the thing quicker through the body."

"Well, you said the nanites you made self-replicated, so they need to be circulated quicker as well. We need to take the bad with the good." Evan put the injector down softly into a small case with foam padding.

"Yeah, but the nanites only coat the red blood cells' exterior in a compound to fool the virus' protein receptors. We're only throwing thick glasses with fake mustaches on them, it takes time for it to work. You flow that bug through their cardiovascular in full throttle, it may not get enough of them in time."

They started to walk off, debating the groundwork for their cocktail while throwing ideas around for another approach. Julian looked around, and when he was satisfied no one was present, he packed the injector into the case, closed it up, and headed for the storage room where the weapons and equipment was being held.

He got a new uniform and loaded a rifle, side arm, back-up side arm, combat knife, his two hidden blades he custom designed on Ironhold, some binoculars, two ration packs, a communicator, and two canteens. He loaded the ammunition and started for the door when Thao stepped in the way out of nowhere.

"Where do you think you are going?" Thao's voice was cold.

"I will be back."

"She is not the priority here. You need to stay on track."

Julian closed the distance and locked eyes with his friend, "She deserves a death better than at the hands of some rebel scum in the periphery."

"It does not matter. You have orders." Thao planted his feet while he spoke. "Do not let whatever this is ruin the mission—"

"I am walking through that doorway." Then he proceeded.

Thao did not move. He raised his hand to push Julian away and Julian responded by grabbing the hand and twisting it so the wrist nearly snapped. It was quick, and extremely painful, but Thao stayed his ground best he could, and drew his sidearm with his good hand, and pointed it at Julian's face, point blank.

Talking through his teeth, he attempted one last time to get his friend to stand down, "Do you know what the punishment is for striking your superior officer in a war zone outside of a circle?"

Julian kept staring into Thao's eyes, not reacting to the gun at all. He stayed silent, letting his cold stare speak for him.

"Is she worth this?"

He just kept staring, never letting the pressure release. Thao realized that he would die here if need be, that he had no fear, no regrets, and no concern for the mission priorities. Whatever was going through his head was more primal and solid that anything Thao could muster in defense.

So, after a moment, he put the gun down and stood aside. "Forty eight hours. If you are not back with her by then, we leave without you."

Julian turned and walked to the exit. Thao having a moment of regret at letting his best man walk out on them, "Julian…"

But he kept moving, never pausing, never looking back. He was gone in moments, and Thao took a deep breath. He knew in the back of his head that his friend would be back, that this was something that had to be done. And he hated himself for letting it happen like this.

* * *

In the south doorway to the main room, just in view of the storage room's exit, Gennis turned to Brevan in extreme concern, "Did he just let him go?" 

"He knows what he is doing."

Gennis was almost appalled at Thao letting his infiltration specialist out, against his orders. "Apparently your unit is run differently than mine. What is he thinking?"

Brevan turned to walk away from Gennis, "Thao looks out for us first, whether he admits it or not."

"But not at the expense of the mission."

"Well, when your ass is in the fire, he will be there for you too. Whether you would do the same for him makes no difference."

Gennis Newclay's head spun. Was this the famed Nighthawks he heard about? The team that foiled a plot to start a war between the Jade Falcons and Star Adders on Huntress? The team that near single handedly safeguarded the entire Homeworlds' genetic repository program? They looked more like a bandit gang masquerading as trueborn warriors to him, and it disturbed him deeply.

* * *

Fredrick Lischter entered the room under armed escort. He was a short man with a good build, the Kenton prison system feeding him well and providing enough time for exercise to shave those extra pounds he got from living the good life. The room was bright, with several florescent bulbs doing their work and leaving no surface hidden. Lex Barret awaited him in a chair on one end of the room, next to a desk containing some medical supplies. 

The guards led him to the other chair in the room, the one bolted to the wall and having restraints. He knew better than to challenge these Lyran infantry types with their stun batons. His back still throbbed from the last time he smarted off to one of them.

He allowed himself to be strapped in and watched Lex wave them out of the room. This doctor guy looked like he hadn't slept in days, and there was always a look of deep thought on his face. Not good things to look for when strapped to a chair. But Fredrick was known for his newfound don't-give-a-shit attitude. "So what've you got souped up for me today, Doc?"

Lex took a deep breath, and pushed a file aside on the desk that he was reading previously, then rolled the chair closer to his new patient. "I'm going to cut straight to the chase, no bullshit. I want you to answer a question for me, and then… I'll answer one for you."

Now Fredrick was confused, "What kind of game are you playing, man? You a doctor or a shrink?"

"Do you want to play or not?"

"Fine." He laughed, "Not like I have anything else to do right now. But," he let the pause spark anticipation in Lex's head, "I get to go first."

This was not what Lex wanted. Telling him what he knew he would have to would not put Fredrick in the mindset to cooperate. "No, I get to go first."

"Fuck that. I'm the prisoner here. You want information from me, then I get some first. If you want to play, then give the bound man some room."

Frustrated, Lex gave in, "Fine. Go for it." Waiting for the question he did not want to answer, Lex tried to keep his mind clear so his answer was quick and honest.

"Got a cigarette?"

That stopped him in his tracks. After being strapped into a medical chair and offered a peek behind door number one he asked for a cigarette?

"Ah… no. Sorry, I don't smoke."

"Man, I knew I should have asked for something else. Now what's on your mind?"

Lex pulled Fredrick aside because of his past. Colonel Thames' efforts at producing a carrier were ineffective, having most of the calebs killed off already. On top of that, he seemed to have a different agenda anyway, or at least that was the vibe Lex was receiving when around him. "I want to know about the caleb herd movements."

"What the hell? Those big cow things? Shit, that's an odd question."

Apparently some explaining needed to be done here, "Look, something is killing them off, and I need to find one, fast. You used to run your little hunting expeditions up through the northern peninsula, right? According to your files, no one knew that area better than you."

Fredrick was imprisoned because he led a hunting ring that would travel to the northern peninsula at irregular intervals to hunt some indigenous wildlife and sell some fairly expensive body parts on the black market through outgoing merchant vessels. He got caught stealing supplies and swapping shipments with PSI property to get his pay dirt off planet, and the company had no tolerance for one to screw it over for personal gain. Either way anyone put it, he was the most familiar with that part of the continent, as the actual population was here for mining and stuck to that.

"Yeah, I know that area. But we hunted mostly burrows and fog bears."

"So they didn't feed on the calebs?"

"Yeah, they did. I don't know how I can help you with that from this chair though."

So Lex unlocked one of his arms and produced a map of the continent. Fredrick was so impressed that anyone actually needed him after so long in captivity that he was happy to help. He showed Lex the herd movements he memorized from his hunting days and showed him the best way to travel up there without running into the authorities.

"Hey Doc, that was a long answer. Do I get a follow up question?"

Lex didn't think much of it after their rapport now. "Sure."

"Are you going to kill me?"

And his world was freeze-framed. Caught completely off guard, Lex's face told Fredrick the answer quicker than he thought it would. So there was no point in lying to him. "Yeah."

"Why?"

"In all honesty, because I need to. Some virus is wiping this planet out piece by piece, and I think the calebs are the answer to curing it. But they're all dying off, so I need to travel out to find them."

"And I need to die for that?"

"No. We don't know everything about it yet, and with the limited time on our hands, the LAAF is demanding results."

Fredrick laughed a cynical laugh, "And there's nothing like testing this killer out us prisoners to get answers huh?"

Lex couldn't laugh at it. He felt terrible inside.

"Hey, I know you're not the bad guy here. I can see it. Those guards out there, they're the bad guys. I was probably going to die on this planet anyway, I figured that out a long time ago. Just do me a favor."

"What is it?" Lex was almost afraid to hear his response.

"When you cure this thing, remember how you did it. A lot of good men are probably dying right now, am I right?"

"Yeah." His throat was dry and his mind started to hurt. Lex couldn't stand talking to an impending victim, even if he was so willing.

The guards knocked on the door to check up on Lex, who waved them off. "I'm going to give you some shots now. I picked these out because a certain amount of pain killers was added to them."

"I don't want the particulars, Doc." Now that Fredrick finally realized it was going to happen this fast his face straightened up. Whether he was making his peace with God or trying to distance his mind from this place was unknown to Lex, but he just did what he had to do. He performed the physical and administered the shots before Fredrick was transported to a quarantine chamber. There the White Death was pumped into the air, and all his vitals were recorded. Lex left well before he died, not caring about the results anymore.

The tests of the oxygen tolerance of the virus came in a while ago, telling him that the White Death could only survive in Kenton's atmosphere for ten hours. Apparently oxygen is toxic to it, which is why it never traveled from the wilderness to Kenton's population centers and it only attached to red blood cells on their way back to the heart after emptying their oxygen payload to the myoglobin in the muscles.

In changing Kenton's atmosphere and introducing all sorts of oxygen producing plant life, the Lyrans effectively suppressed this virus and forced it into hibernation within the ecosystem. The meat of the calebs was cooked to such a temperature that it was killed off well before consumption, and when whatever killed the creatures off left several fields of them to be burned, the fire used sucked all the oxygen out of the air, allowing the virus a short leash, just long enough to reach the nearest town by air, and multiplying through its victims into epidemic proportions.

He had to get a carrier, before all of them were killed. So he packed his stuff up and started his trip to see Colonel Thames in his command center since he had not heard back from him regarding the carrier retrieval op. En-route, his wife called him.

"_Lex?"_ Her image flashed on his view screen.

"What is it?"

"_I don't know. It looks like the riots are getting bad or something, because the troops keep putting the base on lockdown and moving us around."_

"There's nothing I can do about that. Just stay in there, it's the safest place for you."

"_Lex? What's wrong? You look bad."_

He was not in the mood to explain everything to her. He did not even want to explain it to himself like he has so many times in the last hour. "I've been busy. Honey, I'll call you when I get a moment. I'm on to something here, and…"

She could tell he wanted to be with her, and that he was distancing himself out of concern for her. _"Lex, I don't want to know. I just want you close to me. Please, do what you have to do. I know you're doing the right thing, whatever it is."_

"Yeah. Melissa? I love you." And he hung up. He honestly could not bear the sight of her. He did not want her to know what he turned into the last few days. He had to make things right.

* * *

Colonel Thames was in his command center coordinating two convoys of troops over to a priority target. Kirsa was at his side and helped him out with the particulars of the terrain. The center was busy with moderate radio traffic and the screens showed the cockpit views of the battlemechs in the formation, along with the radar readouts from the surveillance vehicles. 

Lex was allowed in after Thames was informed he had an urgent matter to discuss. Needless to say, he was rather busy and not pleased by a repeat request.

"I found out where we can find the carrier."

Thames continued to look at his screens, "I told you, we already searched known areas for them and came up empty. I have an op going on here, the other can wait."

"Wait for what? Any minute now that damned virus can head north and catch us all in the ass."

Thames shot a look of frustration at the screens while Harrison approached him from the other side. "Sir, the informant looked to be correct. We see buildings large enough in the target area to house battlemechs."

"That's promising. Any word on who tipped us off?"

"That's a negative sir. He just claimed he was part of Christopher's resistance group and realized he should be fighting for us instead. Whatever his motives are, he gave us everything, coordinates, directions, and attack times."

"I know, that's what's worrying me. This is perfect for an ambush."

Kirsa spoke up, "It looks like it, but orbital surveillance shows no activity in the area. Christopher would have fortified everything ahead of time if he were going to lure you in."

She reluctantly played his resource agent here. Having known the rebel group itself, she was key in helping him overtake them strategically. He did not have her on the ground with the troops however, because he needed to make sure she was on his side. No point in having those two link up again if something funny is going on under his nose.

"ETA sixteen minutes. Artillery will be in range in ten." Harrison reported after listening to his headset.

"Copy that. Have the artillery set up here and here, then have the rest proceed from both the route the informant gave us and the one we planned." Thames dismissed Harrison and turned back to Lex, who was waiting impatiently for permission to take more resource from him for a wild goose chase. "Dr. Barret, record your findings and send them to my consol. I will deal with them after this is over with."

"No, I want a team now. We can do both at the same time."

Thames got up from his chair and pulled Lex aside, "Listen to me, I give the orders here, and you follow them like everyone else. There is a deadly virus floating around out there and I will _not_ send my men into it on a hunch, understood?"

"But the virus has a ten hour—"

"I don't care. I will have another team planned after this strike. I am about to wipe out the rebels that assaulted your compound a few days ago and I refuse to risk failure."

"What is your priority here?"

Thames turned away, "If you're asking that question then I want you out of my command center. Guards, remove him. You have work to do."

"Damn right I do," and Lex turned to leave.

"Just remember our agreement. You get me my test results, and I keep your family under protection. This can all be over with very soon if you stay the course."

Something just pricked Lex in the back of the head, so he turned around and stopped thinking before he spoke, "Are you threatening my family?"

"I am merely reminding you why we're still friends." Then he turned to one of his comm operators, "Get Alpha on the horn, have then detour to the left around that water complex. I don't want collateral."

"Well, we're not friends, and I'm not your lapdog. I'm here to find a cure, not play these games."

Lex was not done with him yet. "Look, if you want out of this, just say so. I have no problem dropping the dead weight. You've given me more than enough already." He was still concentrating on the screens, watching his forward lance move around a water purification facility.

Lex had enough. He just stormed out of the complex, concentrating only on what he thought he had to do, leaving the politics and drama behind him.

He made it to his car and paused, thinking to himself. The world around him shrank considerably, making him the only one on this damned planet that could save it. He couldn't believe the situation he was dumped into, but he had a family here, and he meant to see his daughter grow up. Against his better judgment, he started his car and headed to his lab for the final time.

* * *

The binoculars helped immensely as the sun raised just enough throw one's vision off. The light reflected off of some buildings and cast impossibly dark shadows over others, creating a landscape more reminisce of a painting than real life. But Julian knew it would pass, and he stayed the course he set out on two days prior. 

Three interrogations, five leads, two towns and one city; he scoured this place for Ashley, crashing every party he could find that knew anything about the rebel militia. In effect, it was the best run he had ever had, which was ironic. The irony was not lost on him, his finest performance not benefiting the clan any. This was definitely not business for him, but all personal.

A light wind came in from the east, chilling the town he was in from one side to another. Dew covered all the windows of the cars and buildings, no one was up for work yet. The roof he was perched on had a perfect view over the town, a small city in its own right. The two Lyran attack lances ahead caught his eye as the only moving objects here, giants navigating the streets like narrow walkways. He knew their destination as he marked the rebel hideout on a map he acquired during his scrounge. He had not eaten or slept in near 48 hours. In fact, he had not thought about anything other than the topic at hand within that time. And now, it seemed, a monkey wrench with a giant metal fist was thrown into his plans.

It made no difference. She was in there, and he was going to make sure she was breathing when she got out.

* * *

Two attack lances, one being heavy and the other heavy-medium were deployed to take the rebel base out. Several units of infantry were brought in on APCs with armored escort. Two gun ships and two light recon 'mechs were bringing up the rear to make sure none of them escaped once the fighting started. It was early morning, and the element of surprise would only last as far as the sound of the force's footsteps approaching. 

So far everything was going as planned. The lances made their way through the outskirts of the town to avoid any collateral damage incurred in transit while the rear forces simply made a dragnet behind to collect any escapees. Directions and commands were coming directly from Colonel Thames at Danner Command thanks to the communications trucks parked between the locations. They passed the water treatment centers, residential districts, and now the trucking ports where the supplies were loaded for transport to the other cities on planet. Several structures were under construction while others were being demolished, an ongoing project here outside Danner.

It was here it all started, a 5 ton wrecking ball swinging from nowhere right into the path of a _Stiletto_, caving its front end in and knocking it from its feet.

* * *

The crane shuddered like the hand of God slapped it from the side. Julian quickly jumped from the cabin onto the second floor balcony of the building it was parked next to and entered without any reservations. As his feet hit the balcony itself, he felt the ground tremor with the _Stiletto_ finally succumbing to gravity, and had to dip his head while he ran for the stairs to avoid plaster and debris from the ceiling falling into his eyes. 

He hit the staircase hard and slid down the rails, finding a parked cruiser outside the door from the first responders. They were the Lyran support personnel assigned to the rear team, and they skidded to a halt in front of the door to the building next to the crane. Two men jumped out and ran for the doorway with their guns raised, each to have a bullet punch through their heads as Julian near glided from the lobby to the side of the vehicle, not breaking stride in his aim. The 'pops' of his side arm failed to gain the attention of the driver as he watched the pilot of the _Stiletto_ get out of his 'mech and assess the damage, him not being able to resurrect the machine. One round made it through the opening in the right of the vehicle and sent the driver's brains out across the pavement. Julian grabbed the top roll bar and swung his feet into the vehicle, kicking the lifeless corpse out of its seat and landing behind the wheel.

The vehicle skidded to life right toward the pilot of the _Stiletto_, who noticed the body of the cruiser contorted on the road and the thing speeding at him like an angry wolf. The pilot unholstered his sidearm and fired several rounds at Julian, missing all of them and wasting time he could have used to dodge his cruiser. He did jump at the last second, catching his rear leg on the right windshield and breaking it instantly. His body flailed on the ground behind him, but it was still alive. Spider cracks exploded across the right half of the glass, pissing Julian off more than anything else.

But the emotion quickly subsided as the sight of several motorcycles gained from behind, closing their distance quick. Both of them had mounted machine guns on the front. They were a small caliber, but enough to harass other infantry or an unarmored car. One of them lit off a stream of ammo at Julian's vehicle, twanging off the rear as he hit the emergency break and skidded around the corner of a building ahead of him, cutting to his right like a pro stunt driver. He knew he could not effectively fire back at these guys while behind the wheel.

They followed suit and split up, one taking the right side of the road while the other went up on the sidewalk and maneuvered around some debris to catch up. This was not a main road of the town, but more of a service area for the construction equipment and entrance ramps to the highways, giving Julian all the space he needed for his maneuvering. Then he caught a glimpse of the cycle on his left taking aim with its mounted gun, forcing him to steer right to hide his body from the incoming rounds. This forced him into the firing arc of the other one, which forced its ammo through the rear of the vehicle and into the metal backing of his seat.

In an instant Julian hit the breaks of his vehicle and skidded it sideways and ultimately back in the direction he was coming from, catching the cycle behind him in the side as it collided when he was perpendicular to the road. The driver flew at least thirty meters in the air before hitting the ground, the impact taking him out of the equation instantly.

Then Julian put the thing in gear and ran the other cycle down who was making his way around some loading trailers to get a firing position on him from behind. It was not a game of chicken where both of them lit their guns off, the mounted one on the cycle and Julian's side arm. The sound of the guns firing was faint as the engines of both roared at each other. But both missed and they swerved at the last second, the cycle turning quicker and Julian simply continuing on and into a maze of loading equipment and scaffolding.

Their speeds increased and the metal around them became a blur as any object collision at this point would be fatal. Julian tried as hard as he could to take in the surroundings ahead of him, it all whishing past him so quickly. But he saw what he was looking for soon enough: a platform containing long support piping, all bound with a single utility strap above an open gap between scaffold units. He quickly took his rifle and leaned back into his chair, trying to aim while steering and have the seat absorb as much of the recoil as possible. He hit automatic on the selector and let rip a burst of fifteen rounds or so, enough to rip through the strap and then again hit his emergency break, forcing the cycle behind him to swerve to the side to avoid the fate of his friend. Julian steered the vehicle sideways and into the lead scaffolding support leg as he stopped, jolting all the piping he freed off the edge and into the path of the cyclist. The first few knocked him right from the bike and half buried him while the cycle itself skidded to a halt some 60 meters away.

He quickly inspected his ride and found that one of the shots nailed the gas tank from the rear, thankfully not igniting the mixture, but making his ride gush liters upon liters of fuel on the ground. He could not rely on a ride that was bleeding to death, so he booked it on foot to the cycle and quickly made way toward the rebel base. The sounds of combat were already booming in the distance, the rebels mobilizing their 'mechs in defense. He got off track here, but somehow avoided the attention of the two gun ships and the last light 'mech of the formation. It must've been rough up ahead for them to continue without the latest victims of Julian's personal crusade.

* * *

Ashley heard the sounds of 'mech fire, but couldn't see anything from her cell. The single window was way too high for her to look out of, and the guards outside her door left to help with the defense of their facility. It was the most helpless feeling she could imagine, the world around her turning to pandemonium and her being stuck in this pocket realm of vulnerable calm. 

She already moved her cuffed hands to her front, something that did not really bother Christopher for some reason, but lacked the resources to pick her cuffs again. All she needed now was a battering ram though, so she improvised with her shoulder.

Several times she ran into the door, trying to knock it open, and each time failing. The sounds of combat grew louder, the missile explosions especially menacing through the walls. Then the rhythmic sound of battlemech feet shook the floor, foretelling their approach.

She waited in silence as one passed by her window, creating a shadow for a split second, and making her feel real small. There was nothing she could do from in here but wait. She never stopped yelling though, at the door for release. It was the least she could do to route the adrenaline pumping through her veins, when her prayers were answered in the worst possible way.

Several autocannon shots successively thundered through the walls, and the sound of shrieking metal hurt her ears before the concussive blast of concrete rained down on her from above. The right arm and shoulder of a rebel _Starslayer_ crashed through the far ceiling and wall of her cell as the 'mech itself fell lifeless to the ground. After a few moments, she realized that she was unharmed, and the 'mech itself was not moving. The cockpit did open, the airtight hiss of the seals popping open echoing through the next room. She decided quickly that she could not climb the 'mech and escape through the outer wall, but could squeeze through an opening made above the 'mech in the wall containing the door. So she wiggled her way through, and let her adrenaline take over.

The pilot made his way from the next room into the hallway to have the chain between Ashley's cuffs stretch across his throat and choke the life out of him. Once down, she grabbed his side arm and quickly shot the cuffs in half, forcing small links to dangle from each wrist.

She charge down the hall at full speed and blew through the far door with her shoulder, finally feeling that satisfying spike of pain that foretold her successfully opening a door. Four rebels were frantically running around trying to pick up some bags of equipment and get them to their escape vehicles. The time it took them to realize her presence was all she needed to shoot two down on the spot and tackle a third one like a wild cat would pounce on its prey. The fourth got away.

"The vehicles! Where are they!" She jammed the heated barrel of her gun into the man's throat to quicken his response, and he pointed a shaky finger at the door the fourth man just ran through. _Figures,_ she thought. She knew she should have just followed the last one, but you never know with these guerilla types what you'll find in pursuit.

She hit the man in the temple with the handle of the gun and sprinted through the doorway to find herself in an emptying garage. The last of the cars was peeling out the only open doorway in the far wall to be actually _kicked_ by a Lyran 'mech as it ran past. The suddenness of it all momentarily stunned her, but she recovered, realizing that the Lyrans are here on business, and are already overwhelming the rebels.

She made her way across the floor when an APC of Lyran troops crashed through one of the closed garage doors. It skidded sideways and stopped, the doors popping open and the troops dismounting quickly and flooding the door to the room she previously littered with bodies. One spotted her and grabbed another troop to pursue, and she fired several rounds into the lock on the door ahead of her and plowed through it as well, finding herself in a staircase, the only way out being up.

Three steps at a time she raced up the stairs, the men behind running after and firing short controlled bursts up through the well, sending sparks and debris past her face and forcing her to concentrate on keeping her breathing down under such duress. They shouted to their command as they gave chase, and she heard the radios respond. The voices were all distorted so she could not tell exactly what was being said, but she finally hit the last door to the building before the stairs stretched to the roof. The last of her ammo was spent blowing through the handle and she quickly dashed to the side and hid behind the door to await her pursuers, who were not far behind.

The first of them floated past the threshold and looked in each direction, instantly doing double takes to find her. The second showed up moments later, updating his men through his radio. She wasted no time and threw the door shut while snapping the neck of the second man. The first one heard the door and turned with his weapon drawn in time to find his friend's radio spinning in the air at him.

The radio hit his elbow, forcing him to dip the barrel of his gun as the shots rang out. Like lightning she was airborne and the bottom of her boot connected with his face like a brick would smash through a window.

He hit the ground and slid several feet before dodging her follow up attack. After rolling out of the way, he saw her turn her head as voices sprang forth from the stairwell signifying the rest of the team's ascension. It wouldn't be long before she was hopelessly outnumbered. The injured man headed for cover as she jump-rolled to the body she previously dispatched, pulling the pins from two grenades and rolling them through the opening and down the stairs.

The shouts were short-lived as the duel explosion blotted out the men panicking from their enclosed predicament. But no celebration was in order. She quickly scanned the room looking for the man she allowed to escape to hear another rattling on the ground.

To her horror she found a third hand grenade rolling to her from the next room where the injured Lyran soldier held up.

In an automated response she headed for the window, streamlining her body and leading with her fists through the pane right as the room behind was destroyed in a deafening blast. She landed on the fire escape, giving her near nowhere to go. But that was just the headline to this new tragedy, as one of the helicopter gun ships found her and circled for a shot.

She knew she couldn't stay on the fire escape, its confines making her a perfect target. So she braced herself on the rail for a jump she knew would result in a painful landing. Right as the helicopter sank into view and ripped an absurd amount of ammo at her, she leapt across the opening toward the roof of the next building. It was three stories shorter than the one she just left, making her descent a full story since she jumped from the floor below the top balcony.

She could have sworn that time stood still as she sailed through the air. The flash of the anti-personnel machine gun, the rotors of the helicopter itself, and the waving hair behind her all seemed to slow down as for a moment she was free from the constraints of gravity. And then she crashed onto the roof below and rolled to absorb the impact, trying not to lose stride.

She quickly got to her feet and sprinted toward other end of the roof, the sounds of the helicopter behind her resuming louder than they were before and the ground exploding to life as a hailstorm of bullets rained around her. Lucky for her, the space between this building and the next one was real slim, hiding her from the view of the chopper behind her as she quickly made her way over the edge of the concrete railing and down the fire escape.

The helicopter circled once in the time it took her to make it all the way down, proving that working with gravity is much easier than working against it. It left to find another way to verify her location, which gave her the perfect opportunity to cross the street and get the hell out of this fire zone.

But the world outside the ally was entirely different, containing burning cars and chewed asphalt in both directions. The light of the sun was slowly creeping its way across the street in perfect contrast to the blazing combat around her. Not but four meters into the street a Lyran _Gallowglas_ appeared a block away in the same street, completely exposing her. Luckily, it was engaged with a rebel _Bushwacker_, allowing time for her to cross the street without being fired upon.

After making it through the next alley she noticed some civilians cowering in a shop across the street, some in awe of the giant war machines arrayed around them while others hid as deeply as they could from the combat. The _Gallowglas _and _Bushwacker_ were going at it like rabid dogs, chewing through their armor vigorously and leaving little time for their weapons to cool down between bursts. She couldn't find cover however, as all the shops and buildings locked their doors in fear of the fighting outside. After trying three places, the helicopter finally found her and fired a salvo of missiles off.

Jumping as quickly as she could, the shockwave of the explosion literally propelled her down the road where she found the flaming carcass of a semi truck to shield herself. The chopper let rip another burst from its machine gun, but the ammo could not penetrate the truck to get her, giving her just a moment to think before it appeared overhead.

In that moment, several large explosions rang behind her as the _Bushwacker_ landed on a gas station and had its ammo explosions ignite the fuel bladders underneath. It was blinding for a moment, and the world fell silent as her hearing refocused.

The helicopter disengaged as a rebel _Hatchetman_ fired a missile salvo at it from two blocks over. But the security was short lived as two Lyran soldiers exited an alley two buildings away in the direction of the desiccated gas station and opened fire on her. She was going to slip under the trailer for cover on the other side, but realized that while one had a rifle, the other was firing a rocket launcher, and the rocket sped toward the truck at a deceptively high speed.

She barely dodged the thing in time, covering her ears from the explosion and then finding herself completely exposed to the infantrymen with no weapon to fight back with. There was no cover for at least 15 meters and the second one's weapon was drawn. Sweat burned her eyes and covered her body, sticking her clothes to her skin and weighing her down as her fatigue caught up with her. She could not breathe fast enough or see clear enough be confident she would move in time from the fate staring at her down rail sights at eighty meters.

But she was a warrior, and would stare death in the face, even if it were in the form of some lowly Lyran recruit on a periphery world. She focused on the barrel of his gun, her mind confused as to which way to drop and evade. The world closed in so quickly and for a moment she thought she hallucinated.

The glint of a blade flashed through the air from behind the infantryman and punched through his chest, never giving him the chance to fire. He fell to the ground as a motorcycle shimmered into existence through the smoke of the flaming gas station. The rider unstrapped an assault rifle and swung it at the second infantryman, making contact with his head and sending blood from it across the concrete and robbing it of all consciousness.

The cycle passed through the shadow of the building between her and the now dispatched soldiers, flashing light across the rider's face and forcing her to blink again to accept what she saw.

Julian Buhallin, in a black combat uniform and close-cropped hair rode toward her like a fairy tale's knight in shining armor, slowing down just enough and sticking his arm out for her to grab and swing herself onto the seat behind him.

_Is this real,_ she thought? There were no words between them. The joy of seeing Julian and the speed of combat merged into a new form of high, a euphoria never experienced before. She grabbed his waist tight and held on, relishing his solid body and the speed at which the world passed her by.

He maneuvered the bike through two patches of rough road and through a service garage to blast out the other side right into three battlemechs destroying the world around them. Each goliath machine was shooting it its own direction, gunning down men and vehicles as they tried to mount a futile defensive. It was like kids stomping on anthills, though the heat of the wreckage and sound of the weapons fire amplified the level of destruction a thousand fold. A Lyran _Warhammer_ was gunning down what was left of a rebel _Nightsky_, following it to the ground with its medium lasers and plowing into it with its PPCs. The 'mech's advance lead it right into the path of the motorcycle.

She forced herself to look up as they passed in front of the _Warhammer_ right as its lead foot hit the ground, near impossibly missing it and leaving it behind. They passed so closely that she could smell the burnt armor of its foot as it landed.

And just like that, her world quieted down. After another thirty seconds passed, all she heard was the purr of the motorcycle engine, and her heart struggled to slow itself. But the wind flying past her face and the now serene, wooded road they were on gave her a small sense of safety.

Relishing the wind-down, she held onto Julian and closed her eyes. _It is a good day to be alive,_ she thought.

* * *

The _Nightsky_ hit the ground hard, the _Warhammer's_ assault forcing it down much harder than gravity would. The firing of the other two 'mechs slowed as most of the resistance was either dead or subdued. 

The three 'mechs separated to survey the area and help out with the finishing combat when several small explosions occurred around them. In fact, the explosions were so quiet that the pilots never heard them, and the ground infantry could only guess at what was going on. About one per block went off, all within two blocks of the target rebel base.

The troops investigated, but came up empty handed as collecting the new rebel prisoners was a task requiring 100 of their attention. And after forty minutes, the first of them fell out, followed by another one every minute. It was a peaceful catastrophy, and before command knew anything was wrong, the reports chimed in.

"_Command! This is Staff Sergeant Banes. Two of my men just fell out, one is bleeding from his eyes. Medics can't find out where he was hit."_

"…_can smell something funny. The prisoners have been coughing like crazy…"_

"… _coughing up blood! The whole unit is hit! We have…"_

"… _code black! The virus! Get everyone out of cough! cough!…"_

"…_can see the men below sir! Most of them are on the ground, bleeding from their eyes, ears, everything…"_

"_Too fast! It wasn't supposed to kill them this fast. What the hell aggg! is going…"_

"…_my God, all of them. I lost contact with all of them…"_

"…_they must've booby trapped it. We walked right… in… to it…"_


	4. Chapter Three: Run

**CHAPTER THREE: RUN**

Colonel Jeffrey Thames sat in his chair, alone. The burning taste of vomit lingered in his mouth, as every time he thought of the day's events, a little more seemed to work its way up his throat. His office has been empty for almost an hour now, his computer giving him all the information he wished to God he didn't have to assess.

Earlier that morning, an anonymous tip came in from someone supposedly working with the rebel militia unit. He scrambled a team and had the rebel base destroyed. It was not a flawless operation by any means, having lost a 'mech and several ground units on approach by what they assumed to be a hidden squad of ambushers, and several more during the main building siege. The 'mech combat was more fierce than he had expected, buy the Lyrans carried the day, having the initiative and superior resources.

But less than an hour after declaring the area secure, his men started falling out. Initially he thought the virus was set up as a failsafe device to kill the Lyrans off by the rebels if they were compromised, but further searches found recording equipment placed in several areas around ground zero. Someone planted it there and lit it off, watching it from afar and collecting the results, like some live weapon field test. His men were set up, and everyone died.

The worst part was, they didn't die instantly. They passed out or grew weak well before their brains kicked over, but once the virus was in their systems, there was no coming back. He couldn't send help in there and risk losing more men, and he couldn't treat them since there was no cure. They had to collect themselves in a single building and wait it out. He literally gave them the order to lie down and die. And they stayed in radio contact the whole time. The things he heard: the confessions, the notes to be delivered to family members, the emotion. He didn't have too much trouble pushing it all aside, but the other troops were deeply affected. He had a lot of work ahead of him maintaining a productive force.

Fifty-two men and thirty-seven rebels died together in a crowded room, which was now coming through in visuals onto his computer consol.

He finally sent a team fully equipped in bio-suits to cordon the area off and check on the casualties. The fuzzy image of a mound of corpses piled in a room whose walls were covered with spatterings of blood and vomit engulfed his monitor and forced another squeeze of stomach acid to rise into his throat. The site was horrifying, and he now wished he never saw it. The flies wasted no time converging on the fresh meat lain before them, and their buzzing came through the speakers on his desk. He had to mute it to keep his mind straight.

A north wind came and blew what would have been the death of the Danner region south into the forested hills around the town proper. Once the bodies were disposed of, it would be another 24 hours before he tested the area for a lingering viral presence. Lex told him it had a ten-hour life span, but he needed to be sure.

His communicator rang, it was the new head of viral research. He answered, "Tell me what I want to hear."

"_Well, the thing was weaponized alright. The recorded time for stage two infection was three hours in the lab, this took less than one. We detected some extra stuff in the air, so it looks like they either altered the virus some or sprayed it with some other drugs, including a stimulant to circulate it through the system faster. We need more time to analyze the samples."_

"Time is something we don't have. If they've already weaponized it, then we're too late here." Then he switched frequencies and contacted his comm man, "Sigler, you figure out where that video feed was going?"

"_That's a negative, sir. They had video and infrared out, along with long-range sensors. They got a pretty good amount of surveillance data, but the stuff was encrypted and the circuits fried before we got here. I think they were equipped to self-destruct after a set period of time."_

"Fucking great. Nothing." Thames cut his communicator off and thought deep and hard. Lex Barret was nowhere to be found, some bio equipment and a sample of the virus itself logged out in his name before he disappeared.

He really needed that expertise now, and wished he had been a little more patient with him. But all that was done and over with. He needed to get the test results from the other labs and get the ball rolling, fast. Problem was, he didn't know which direction to roll the ball, and Lyran Command was going to call any minute now demanding answers. Things could not have gone worse.

Or at least that's what he thought when he got another phone call ten minutes later. "This had better be important," he threatened before even verifying who it was calling him.

"_Sir, this is over watch team 12 on the east side of Danner. We spotted activity outside the complex. It looks like your terrorists are doing some more shopping, and we've got their number."_

Thames may have just caught a break, but he needed to play his cards right. There was no more room for error. "Pin a tail on them. Let them take whatever they want, but I want to know where they take it, and you had better be accurate."

"_Copy that, sir. Twelve out."_

He was not messing around anymore. Some of his men may have been expendable, but he would have heads for this, that much he promised himself.

The tail followed the thieves through the center portion of the city, getting a little too close for comfort a few times, but Thames refrained from opening comms to yell at them at the expense of the mission.

After several turns in the Eastern direction, the vehicles made several wild city circles and detours, lasting near three hours before actually aiming for a specific location several towns outside the city. They obviously didn't know their way around.

They rendezvoused with an unknown group in an underground parking facility hidden from the view of the orbital surveillance, but continued after the new subjects followed suit in more heavy trucks and civilian vehicles. After another grueling trip, they finally parked inside some garage structures, and from there the coordinates were uploaded to Thames' command computer, where he organized another strike. _This one will be a little more tactful,_ he thought.

* * *

The attack convoy consisted of five infantry carriers, three attack lances, and a total of eight VTOL gun ships. After the last mission's tragedy, all the forces were donned with full bio-gear, leaching a lot of resources from Thames' stockpile, not to mention a generous portion of his troops. The lances were stopped far enough away that the target buildings would not notice their approach while the vehicles headed in first this time. The idea was to flash bang the hell out of the buildings still under surveillance by Over watch Team 12 and infiltrate them on foot, then send in the rest so that the least amount of advance warning could make it into the compounds as possible.

The lead vehicle had eight men and a driver, fully armed. They were informed that they would be the first ones in, and they each psyched themselves up accordingly. There were no windows on the vehicle save the cabin so the driver could actually see where he was going, so they had both the luxury of isolating themselves from the passing environment and the curse of running from their new comfort zones into a live fire situation.

It mattered not though, because the moment the vehicle screeched to a halt, they filed out the side door and ran into their chalk formations around the front entrance, four on one side and four on the other.

Rivers, Chalk One lead and head of the forward team ordered the breach and had his men throw flash bangs into the compound prior to entry.

The disorienting explosions inside were muffled by the thick concrete walls, and both chalks instantly followed suit, entering and securing the front room. He was the third in and he instantly secured his corner of the room, searching every crevasse and every shadow. After a moment, he marked the room 'clear' and they moved on to the second one, again finding nothing. The power was off and the switches didn't respond at all. Luckily, it was broad daylight out and the window light made it manageable for his troops, now.

It was frustrating enough to be in all this chem. gear, but to get your adrenaline all charged up for a straight forward raid to have it killed by a nasty case of combat blue balls was extremely agitating. His men stayed their positions and looked at him individually, waiting for him to led them further. He motioned toward the door to his right and they stacked up once again.

It was empty too. Not even equipment was found. The questions forming finally made their way to the radios, _"Is this the right building?"_

"_Where are they? There's only like what, four more rooms on this floor?"_

"_Nothing from the rear. I can still see our vehicle from back there. What the hell?"_

"_We gonna keep moving or what? I'm sweating balls in this suit."_

Rivers knew that another room in and they would be out of light. He activated the flashlight on the end of his assault rifle and watched the remaining members of his unit do the same. Then he took a deep breath and tried to recall the same energy he had on the first breach. Turning and kicking the next door open in one motion, he stepped back and shined his light up the small slit of visibility he had from his angle. Then his troops flowed into the room as they had been trained to do, and found themselves among eight beams of light and some computer equipment. _Finally,_ he thought, _something we can work with._ But the computers were off, and they began searching around the desks.

"Command, is this the right building?" Rivers was taking the moment to update headquarters.

"_That is affirmative."_

"There's nothing here."

"_Reports have been similar with the other teams. Finish your building and get back to us."_

He remembered what happened to the last incursion team with the rebels, and he was spooked to say the least. But it was calm inside at least, peaceful.

That is when he looked over and noticed the piping running from a fire alarm run up the wall. Something he sees all the time, but the ascent of the wiring lured his eyes upward as he followed it to the hole near the ceiling where it disappeared. And, following the natural course of things he continued to look up, not having time to imprint the image of a man falling on him into his memory. All he saw was his chest and face, his arms and legs having been lost in the darkness. The eyes were intense, and the mouth was locked open in some silent war cry. Then it went black.

* * *

"_Rivers! Report. We have weapons' fire!"_ Command wanted to know what was going on. A single shot rang out from Rivers' team, and no explanation was given.

"It was nothing. Stanton saw something and fired. We're pretty anxious in here."

"_What was it?"_

Another voice chimed in, sighing as he said it, _"A rat. Sorry sir."_

"_Well, report back to your vehicle, the place is empty. Surveillance may have made a mistake. We're reviewing it here."_

"Copy that. Rivers out." Thao looked up at the rest of his team as they finished donning the chem. gear the Lyrans were wearing moments ago. He was strapping his gloves on after putting the communicator down, not having a chance yet to wire it into his helmet like Rivers had it before.

Mechwarrior Tyler struggled with the bottom portion of his suit as the fit was off, "Crap, this thing is too small. Hey Weston, switch with me."

Weston, who took the largest man's suit, shot a face of refusal back at him, "Screw you. I need the crotch space." Brevan instantly started laughing at that.

Thao even cracked a smile as he looked around the corner and into the hallway leading to the front door. "Hurry up, they will be waiting for us."

A small tearing noise followed as the rest moved through the doorway past Tyler who was still struggling, "Ahh, I think I ripped it. Stupid, scrawny little Lyran."

* * *

They made their way from the opening of the front building to the vehicle waiting for them. It was the afternoon already and starting to cool down, which was great since these suits really trapped the heat. He could not have asked for a better uniform to conceal the identity of his unit though, as even the gas mask plates made them indistinguishable.

On the return trip from the warehouses in east Danner, Mechwarrior Tyler noticed a following vehicle. Thao ordered several detours to confirm the vehicle behind them was indeed following, and found that two had actually been tailing them from jump. So he contacted Gennis Newclay at his base and had him assemble two transport trucks and three personal vehicles to rendezvous with them in a designated parking garage, not actually meeting up for near two hours.

There, in the safety of the garage, they unloaded the new equipment into the private vehicles and departed together to their base of operations. The larger vehicles parked in their designated garages as planned, while the vehicles containing the equipment were parked in private lots and had the equipment unloaded into the buildings' basements where Trevor Hanover, Evan, Vanessa, and Rictor safeguarded the stash.

Thao expected external surveillance and a strike team to show soon, so he had all needed equipment relocated to the secured underground locations and all the unneeded equipment relocated to several rooms within a single building in an attempt to tailor the Lyran search down to the intended false location and have them chase their tails.

In truth, it was the riskiest maneuver yet made by him and his team, and he had to fight a few minutes with Gennis Newclay to go along with it. But so far it held up, with the incoming attack lances concentrating on the main building and leaving the actual structures housing the lab equipment out of the spotlight. The scientists could only unload their equipment and get to work once the Lyrans have been confirmed to leave the area, which was a horribly risky plan, but it was the only thing Thao could think of that could place his team in a position to infiltrate the Lyran command post.

Upon entering the vehicle with seven Jade Falcon warriors, each in Lyran combat dress, he had Gregors and Weston secure the driver and take the entire thing over. They opened the side cabin door and shot one of the tranq rounds they used on the Lady Blue into the driver, incapacitating him on the spot. Then Gregors placed himself behind the wheel and they were off with the other infantry carrier back to Danner Command. It was time they finally got in there and figured out what was happening on this planet.

* * *

Colonel Thames sat in his command post, surrounded by reporting techs and expending a considerable amount of effort to sort through all the incoming data and keep his head straight. After the initial reports suggested the place was abandoned by the secret force some time ago, he ordered minimal surveillance and patrol for the next 24 hours, at which at that time they would retreat and meet up with forces within the Danner Command center.

_What the hell went wrong,_ he thought? He saw the surveillance tapes several times, none of them suggesting those forces entering the buildings actually leaving. He ordered thorough searches, but wanted the bulk of his team back to help with his new op, the one he Harrison was going to get clarification on soon.

Harrison showed up sooner than he expected, opening his presence with a rather personal remark, "I hate this planet already."

"I know what you mean. I can't believe we've been had like this, twice."

"The lab should be finished with all their analysis soon. They still stand by their initial report."

Thames sighed in frustration, "That it was weaponized. Right under our noses too."

Harrison didn't exactly pour sugar on the situation any, "And from what the scientists think, the video footage and sensors will give them the info they need to make a more potent batch next time. We don't know when that'll be, but I know no one's looking forward to it."

Thames sat in quiet thought, every scenario ending at the same conclusion.

"Are we a go?"

He inhaled and said it, forcing the words out of his mouth, "We are a go. Commence Operation: Whitewash. Pull everyone back that we can and pack it all up."

_What a coincidence,_ he thought. _It's as if they named the operation to specifically deal with the White Death. What were the chances…?_

* * *

Faking a look of despair is one of the hardest things to do. Unlike amusement or interest, despair was not characterized by the arrangement of muscles in your face, but the pain in your soul. It emanates, reaching out to those around you and shrouding your body in a cloak of disappointment. Luckily for Julian and Ashley, recent events unfolded in such a way that they didn't have to fake it. They blended perfectly with the thousands of refugees littering the streets of Danner, all of them homeless and hungry.

She asked him why he took the route into Danner instead of heading back to base camp right away. He told her that he had a bad feeling, something unexplainable and primal. This surprised her immensely, as he was the last person she ever thought of acting on 'gut feelings'. But if there was some truth to it, if he was somehow able to foresee danger, then he did not want to bring it back to the rest of the team. The city was the best place to cover their tracks and disappear. Either the Lyrans or those men she encountered earlier, nothing good would be brought if they didn't work this through with the utmost efficiency.

The two of them moved on foot through a crowd in an intersection. A few cars had tried previously to maneuver their way through, but the crowd was so thick here that they had pretty much given up, abandoning their vehicles as people broke through the windows looking for food or weapons. No one wanted to be rich here, or wanted to stand out in any way.

Julian looked up as a religious fanatic caught his attention on a mailbox in front of a broken store window. He held a sign that quoted Revelations and he spouted some rhetoric that these people were reaping what they sowed. No one paid attention to him.

Ashley led the way now, with her smaller profile working to her advantage. She moved around a body on the sidewalk, but a few people converged beside Julian in time to force him to simply step over it. They may not have known if it was dead, or even cared, but he knew. More than one dead body was to be found in the streets. Some trampled, some required insulin and other medications they had no access to anymore. Not a pocket was full or a jacket remained on any of them either, these people truly becoming scavengers overnight.

No one was to be trusted, the crime rate here was too high to be monitored. Law enforcement simply cordoned the area off and tried to keep the people in instead of helping them move throughout the city. By now everyone knew that the virus hadn't followed them over, but the lack of sanitation had generated other concerns, along with the lawlessness of the people themselves.

A Lyran flag burned on one corner, a PSI pennant burned on another. The only thing sacred to these people were themselves. Three men were beating some helpless victim in the middle of the street, each taking turns kicking him in the face until his body stopped moving. One of them emptied his pockets and took his shoes, and they were off. No one stopped them, they just watched as several others approached the body for anything they missed.

He had kept his eyes open for what they were looking for. His communicator hadn't worked since he entered the city limits with police frequencies overrunning everything. With the Lyran military scanners outside the urban areas, he didn't want to chance waving a big flag outside the city proper. Here it was near impossible to get something out however, and Ashley knew exactly where to lead him.

Turning a corner he noticed a media van at the end of an alley, seemingly abandoned. The tires were gone and most of the insides were gutted, but luckily the people who did it probably didn't know how to dismantle the transmission antenna enough to render it useless to a few Jade Falcon Watch agents who just managed to be passing through.

His focus shifted however, as between him and the van was a scruffy man anxiously watching something behind a dumpster. When Julian and Ashley worked their way down the alley, him wearing a loose rain jacket to hide his combat uniform and her wearing a jacket she found earlier, the man yelled to his friend, "Hey man! Someone's coming! Hurry up!"

They moved closer and the man started bouncing out of impatientness. He obviously didn't have a weapon on him or he would have drawn it by now, Julian and Ashley just continued toward the van.

Then his friend suddenly appeared from behind the dumpster pulling his pants up and they both ran off quickly, trying to avoid a confrontation. Since they posed no threat, Julian didn't stop them. He was not about to get into a meaningless fight, not when the object of his travels was only thirty meters from him. But Ashley was curious and worked her way up to the corner where the man was previously. Her face was suddenly stricken with horror as Julian finally made his way around.

A half naked woman lay there bleeding, her legs spread open and her face and neck bruised with fingerprints. Her breathing was shallow as it looked like she overdosed on some drugs. Her movements were slow and vacant, and the stench of rape permeated the air to tell a story no one wanted to hear. The look in her eyes was also absent, her voice unable to call for help. Ashley wondered if the woman even knew what was going on, if she was aware of what they did to her. If she felt it, or she wanted to fight them off. She felt Julian turn back to the van and move on, so she quickly closed the woman's legs and covered her with her jacket. There was not much to be done, though that pit in her stomach was making it hard to concentrate now. The men were nowhere to be found, but that damned smell traveled with them. This alley was forever impure.

After three minutes, Julian got the antenna to work, having Ashley hook up his communicator and using the van battery to boost the signal as much as it could. After another forty seconds, they got a reply.

"_ffffzzzzzt—Who is this? Verify…"_

"Lead, this is Juliet Uniform Lima."

"_Oh crap! What is your stat—ffffzzzzzt!"_

"Package retrieved. Return route blocked. Requesting alternate orders."

"_That is good news. The carrier team has been compromised. You are to procee—ffffffzzzzzt!"_

"Lead, say again. Transmission broken." Julian waited a moment and looked at Ashley, who still had her eyes on the woman in the alley. She felt his gaze and returned it when he tried again to raise command. "I say again, transmission broken. Repeat last."

"_fffzzzzt—are to proceed north to retrieve carrier. Deadline is—fffffzzzzt!"_

"Shit." Julian slapped the box a few times, but the van's battery finally gave out. That was all he was going to get from Gennis. "Get the carrier? Do we even know what it is?"

Ashley responded, "He thinks it's the food supply. Here," she pulled his map out and pointed to the northern peninsula. "We think there still may be herds of them moving in this area. The whole ecological system here is in disarray, so it could be near anything up there, but recently a lot of these 'calebs' have been killed off. I confirmed their story when I was in the research compound before that other team made it in there."

"So I can take your word on this? It's do or die out there."

"Yeah, you have my word. We need to get up there and bring something back. Without something to create antibodies, our whole mission is scrubbed."

He just sighed internally. If they grabbed the wrong animal, which was entirely possible since this was a hunch in the first place, then it was scrubbed anyway. But in truth, he just wanted to get some rest for the night. "Fine. We hold up for the night, get some food."

Taking one last look at the victim behind the dumpster slowly clawing at the metal surface beside her in a lost, disoriented way, she packed up her bag and followed Julian out of there, glad to leave that place behind.

* * *

The food they found was actually pretty horrible, but it really hit the spot. Finding much of anything in this mess of a city was difficult, but for the two of them, well, it was their specialty to find what no one else could. That included a vacant studio apartment that was already ransacked earlier in the day. Julian secured the door to his liking and then worked on Ashley's injuries, including her lower ribs. The bruising was extensive, but she took it well, appreciating his delicate touch and genuine concern.

"You've been quiet." He spoke without turning his head from the bandaging he was finishing up.

"So have you."

"It's the woman, isn't it?"

Staring out the window, she envisioned parts of her day, "Actually, it was you. I just… didn't expect to see you come to my rescue like that." She finished her sentence looking at him, and while he felt her gaze, he fought off the urge to return it.

"It's all part of the job." Then he fastened the ends and cut the excess.

"Is it?"

He looked up at her now. "What do you mean?"

"Did Gennis really send you after me?"

He looked down, again avoiding her eyes and hesitated, "No."

She lifted his chin and forced him to look at her. "It's okay. You're not in combat right now."

"You've changed."

"Yeah," then her thoughts wandered, "The last few days, hell, the last few years… they made me think differently, you know?"

Then he finished her thought for her, "Like you only have one life to live."

She smiled, "Yeah." An uncomfortable silence followed. Then she finally broke it. "I missed you."

He swallowed hard. Some part of him thought long lost found its way to the surface. Others called it emotion, but he forgot its true name. Back in the day emotions were so liberating, and now they only caused anxiety. Like it was wrong to feel, to expose yourself. The enemy, the world, it was to remain on the outside. But her eyes, they found their way in. He felt them, felt her warm hands on his chest, and her soft lips against his. He let his guard down, and was surprised at how easy it was. All that energy, all that humanity trying to push through the last several years, he let it flow into her, and she submitted.

They embraced each other like they never had before. For a brief time, their minds, no, their souls became one. It was a delicate passion, setting their worlds on fire and melting them together. Their love lasted for hours, pushing the world around them away until the lust erased it entirely.

The lights of riot police transports outside flashed red and blue through the windows, illuminating their bodies in cool colors, forcing each other to feel for the other to make sure this was real. Was it not a dream? This bliss, this comfort and release. It was like nothing they had experienced before. It was beautiful, and nothing could take it away. Their private world within each other, sharing their true selves, and completely letting go.

* * *

The twin _Atlases_ stationed at the gates to the Lyran command post were like standing monuments, giants in slumber. Their arms were still, next to their bodies, the barrels of their weapons completely visible to the cars passing under them. Thao looked up and could see up the shaft of one of the ER Large Lasers as he passed it, noticing the pristine condition of these 'mechs, like they've never seen combat before. So strange on a periphery response team, but anything was possible in his mind. And he knew he needed that mentality, because the rest of the base appeared and approached as Gregors lead the transport back to the motor pool.

His team was to go through decontamination first before taking the suits off, but he knew there was no virus back at his camp. He could not afford to get his team bottlenecked in a decon tent to get identified, so he ordered Gregors to pull the vehicle ahead of the rest to ensure it hit the base first so they circle the round-a-bouts leading to the area and break off without notice. They stripped their suits down and packed them in several large bags to hide during the trip. The last thing he needed was his cover to be blown by dirty laundry found in a transport vehicle inspection. Kael Pershaw would never let him live it down.

Luckily, most of it went to plan, and they exited the vehicle without too much trouble, leaving the body of the driver in the secured trunk to wake up later. Once again, he was hesitant to kill someone when necessity did not call for it. There was no way to dump the body during the trip, and killing him to fold him into one of the bags seemed excessive. They were short on material as it was. So they simply buried him under the bags, which he hoped were normally stored back there. It was flimsy, but damn near everything about this mission was. He did not take it to heart.

After exiting the vehicle, he ordered Gregors, Weston, and Hicks, one of Gennis' troops, to make way to the air fields to figure out an extraction plan while he took Brevan, Tyler, and two more of Gennis' team with him to the main command compound. Gregors took off in the direction he needed to while he made way across the tarmac. This had to go smoothly.

The passes he took from the forward team he ambushed earlier worked, and the front guards let him in. It was now up to him to find his way to a computer terminal hooked into the main servers. His little entourage followed him down several hallways, completely trusting he knew where he was going.

The atmosphere in here was rather laxed compared to what he thought it would be. Some people joked in the hallway, others were conversing in the lobby. Two pairs of guards were making their way around, but two of them were also holding light conversation. He wondered how serious everyone here took this whole situation, or if they were even properly informed of the nature of this mission altogether.

In the end, it didn't matter. He made his way down another hallway and located a protective cover tube for what would probably be a mass of fiber-optic cables running from end to end and connecting all the rooms together. A relatively large section broke off into a central room, which he figured would be one of the main network hubs. This building may have been a hospital or school before the Lyrans took it over. All the new equipment was just brought in, as he could tell by its non-permanent placement and multitude of external connections. Even some of the new phone lines ran down the ceiling corners.

Upon spotting his target room, he noticed several men exit it. All of them had an admirable frame, though none was too large for administrative duty. There were only four of them, and Thao tried to catalogue their appearances as he normally profiles most of his encounters. For some reason though, when concentrating on the lead man, he found no distinguishing marks. No uniform irregularities, no scars, not even a memorable hair cut. He was, to anyone that really noticed, picture perfect.

All this made Thao's job really hard. Even the little things were not working out for him. _Figures,_ he thought as his team lagged a bit until the previous group turned a corner. They entered the room and immediately went to work.

* * *

Gregors made his way to the airfields where multiple transport ships were being loaded and taxied to the launch pads for liftoff. It was extremely busy here, but he expected that. He really had no clue what kind of equipment rotation was going on in this Lyran op, so he just assumed either new teams were moving in, or they were pulling some troops to escort materials they wanted off-planet. After all, that is what a star-port is for.

The buggy he commandeered slowed to a silent halt in front of a terminal, where he and his two companions departed. They entered the terminal and instantly found themselves in the middle of a massive extraction operation. The outside activities were definitely deceiving, as the amount of activity inside already gave him a headache.

"Okay," he started at Weston, "We are going to move that way and see what kid of craft they have on planet, and what they plan on lifting off of here soon."

"Well, if we can find out their launch intervals and grab a craft outside the port, we can simply blend with their take-off patterns and slip away in upper orbit." Weston was trying to think ahead, but Gregors had him pinned before he knew it.

"No," he was careful not to say 'neg' under cover. He had the worst time trying to twist decades of vocal conditioning for these deep ops. "Their security up there will be nasty since our little fiasco earlier. Anything—" He stopped as a tech walked by too close for comfort. He did not want any of these guys to pick up their conversation, though there was so much activity that he didn't particularly sweat over it.

"This way," he said while leading them to a data-pad left on a crate by one of the Lyran techs in this part of the warehouse. He looked through it while the others just hung out, trying not to look conspicuous. The info was a small manifest, including items like uniforms and general living equipment like tents and field showers.

_This is generally equipment spiked into the ground and left for the duration of long operations. Why would they be rotating them out so soon? They've only been here, what, three weeks?_

Suddenly, he didn't feel satisfied, and sought out another datapad or terminal he could look at. He had a bad feeling, and wanted to find a reason to suppress it before moving on.

* * *

"What the…? There is nothing here. Nothing military. It is all civilian names and some kind of correspondence code system." Tyler was trying to milk the computer servers but for some reason came up completely empty handed.

"Is there anything else? What do the codes mean?" Thao figured they should at least download what was there in case it was important later. But it was strange to have a server without personnel files or even equipment inventory files.

"I am downloading it all now. There is a mess of other files on here, looks like data reports. Maybe it is for the virus research?"

They didn't have time to look through it here. But this was disappointing to say the least. Then the computer suddenly cut off, instantly forcing a deeply concerned expression onto Tyler's face as he turned to look at Thao.

Thao looked out the door and noticed the hallway traffic disappeared. Something was up. He turned back into the room and noticed a small light blinking near the doorframe. It was the silent alarm. "Stravag…" He looked quickly as the sound of troops coordinating down the hallway reached the room.

He looked for something, anything he could use. Finally, his eyes focused on the bundles of cables stretching out from one of the server towers and into the wall. He looked behind the tower and noticed another large bundle heading up the wall and into the ceiling. "There! There should be an access tunnel there for the server wiring."

Instantly his troops removed the panel in the ceiling and one by one fed themselves into it while Thao and one of Gennis' troops moved a large desk in front of the door to block it and slow the security forces. They replaced the access cover and disappeared, still hearing the rustling sound of running guards and the pounding on the door. Someone tipped the Lyrans off, and this whole op was going face down in the dirt real fast. Their only option was to get the hell out of dodge before getting cornered within the building, because there was no back up coming for them, or at least nothing that can penetrate the Lyran assault lance outside.

The tunnel did not go very far however, ending not but fifty meters away into another server room. After waiting a few to ensure no one was waiting for them below, they removed the new access panel and unloaded into a room nearly identical to the one they escaped from moments ago. There were five of them, so it took some time for them to all get out of the tunnel and into the room. Luckily, it was enough for the first two out to secure the door, which led to a hallway being swept by a security team. They listened through the door and heard one of the guards running for it, yelling to his teammates that he was going to clear the room while they panned out and searched the rest of the hallway.

Thao thought hard about how to get out of this, but the traffic in the hallway was dissipating, giving his team near no cover to escape with.

Brevan was there beside the door waiting for the man, and did what he was trained to do in these situations. He pulled him into the room with a quick chop to the back of the neck to knock him out on the way to the ground. It was seamless and quiet, and Brevan took that momentum to pick the man's gun up, search him for extra ammunition, and have Thao stack the team up on both sides of the door. It was go time.

They looked in both directions and found the security team occupied in the other rooms, so they made their way down the hallway as quickly as possible to the lobby overhang, looking down at the front doors as lines of civilians and military personnel together moved through to evacuate the premises. That's when he saw him again, the indistinguishable man.

The man was at the end of the line and got all the way in front of the doorway before turning and connecting his eyes with Thao's, like he knew who he was and wanted him to know it. His expression was that of a man who knew the future, completely blank and expecting. The look told Thao more than an hour of dialogue could, his first mistake. Then he turned and the doors closed behind him.

That was when Thao was tackled as automatic gunfire erupted behind him, the bullets hitting the railing and sending sparks all over the place. "Thao, get down!"

Brevan returned fire, perforating two Lyran guards at the end of the hall and spraying bloody pieces of them all over the wall behind them. His aim was incredible and the guards running for support suddenly jumped back for cover to avoid becoming part of the mess.

Chaos erupted around them as they were near surrounded, the guards not showing themselves entirely. He knew they were closing in though, as the teams ditched their communicators and were able to shout to each other, "We've got them on the balcony! Team five, go to the right!"

Tyler then grabbed the rail and jumped over it, landing on a guard on the ground floor below. Shouts echoed through the lobby as Tyler grabbed that man's assault rifle and opened fire at another security team below. He was able to turn and knee cap the Lyran soldier before turning his attention back to the rest of the guards again, finding himself in a poorly defendable position. The gunfire was deafening as Brevan, Tyler, and several Lyrans exchanged fire.

Thao knew though that they were caught in the open, and that their shelf life out here was expiring quickly. So he ordered everyone to group up, "Over the top, now!"

They all leapt over the railing and met up with Tyler as one team on the second floor dashed from their cover to take advantage of the retreating Falcons. Once Brevan hit the floor, he aimed his gun up at the ceiling and let rip a long burst of automatic fire, sending the rounds through the floor of the second level right into the incoming team. Several screams and the thuds of bodies hitting the floor told him that he hit his mark.

Thao then led them to the front door as Tyler and Brevan reloaded and covered the rear. He would have preferred a side exit, but time was of the essence and he used the lobby windows to make sure that they weren't going to run into certain death. Searching both left and right for all threats he would encounter upon exiting the building, the sight of the indistinguishable man calmly entering a vehicle in the distance caught his eye. His little entourage seemed to be invisible, as all the activity in the distance moved around them unnoticing. He watched the vehicle begin to move off to the east when the world in front of him most literally exploded. Several autocannon shells impacted the front lobby's glass and sent mini concussion waves out, knocking his team on its back and deafening them at the same time. Glass exploded everywhere and he had to shield his face from it so his eyes didn't get lacerated in the temporary downpour. Then he jumped to his feet and turned around, "Back! Get back!"

The follow-up volley blew through the front lobby structure altogether as the footsteps of battlemechs resounded through the structure foretelling their approach. He grabbed the injured Lyran that Tyler incapacitated and pulled him with the rest of his team behind the main lobby desk, a rather large and long structure made of a hardened marble or stone. He knew its cover would be better than the thin air they had before. They barely made it back to the hallway in time to see the furniture and floors of the front get demolished by more autocannon fire aimed at taking them out. Desks exploded under the weight of the shells and the floor shattered from the impact of the oversized ammo used. Nothing in that area could have survived a barrage like that, and one of the exploding desks, aside from sending wooden shards in every direction as it dissipated, ignited into a fireball into the ceiling.

Instantly red lights started flashing through the complex as heavy metal retractable shields slammed down from the ceilings in front of the lobby. Within seconds the building was secured, and all the fires were extinguished. The new silence was incredibly disorienting.

"What was that?" Tyler yelled over the sprinklers, which were still running, drowning the place in a moderate rain.

Thao simply looked at the injured Lyran and grabbed his lapels, slightly lifting him from the floor menacingly. The Lyran troop, pissed off, but hurting enough to have the pain deaden his rage, answered, "This was the government and communications center here. The treasury in the back." Then he paused to see if they understood. They just continued to stare at him, "This thing was designed to protect everyone inside in case of a raid. A lot of sensitive info was centralized here."

Then Thao dropped him and looked around. The sprinklers started to turn off one by one, and suddenly a round from an assault rifle in the distance rang out and Justin, one of Gennis' troops with him got hit in the arm, his body twisting under the weight of the round's impact before falling to the ground for cover. Brevan instantly fired two rounds from his rifle down the suspect hallway, and finished with a semi-excited, "Got him!"

When Thao looked, he saw half of a dead Lyran guard's body lay on the floor, blood sprayed on the wall behind it. Apparently Brevan counter sniped him before any damage was done to his team. Thao just put his hand on Brevan's shoulder acknowledging his battle prowess, and then observed the front metal coverings. No daylight was coming in now, but he knew that those things wouldn't hold against those Battlemechs outside. For some reason, they ceased their fire for now. It was a thing he needed to exploit immediately.

"This is bad," Justin groaned.

"You have been shot before," Thao countered.

"No, I mean the situation."

Thao agreed silently while Tyler chimed in, "What the hell are they using 'mechs on us for?!"

"Maybe they were expecting us?" Justin's arm hit must've got his brain working.

"Negative. They would not have let us in if that were the case." Brevan told him. "But we cannot hold up in here for long. We are surrounded and running low on ammo."

Thao thought about the possibilities surrounding the amount of preparation and expectation for his unit to show up. But using battlemechs on such a precious structure made no sense, and the fact that they stopped now only confused him further. Something had to have been in here that they did not want destroyed. "Okay. We need to get more weapons and ammo, and a way out of here, before they breach. Brevan, take Alex here and find me an exit."

"Copy that. Alex, stay behind me until we get another gun. I am going down the hallway to the right, so stay close." He and Alex shot off at a frightening pace.

Thao then thought about the man getting in the car, and heading in the direction of the star port Gregors was at. Something was clicking, and that was probably not a good thing. So he got on the comm and tried to raise his teammate and update him. He'd be damned if he gave up the opportunity to identify those men. Something about them seemed hauntingly familiar.

* * *

Raynes, commander of the 194th WoB ROM unit took his small detachment into the Lyran controlled Star port under the cover of a security detail. The news of Wraith finding what he thought was another team on Kenton was something that changed the whole dynamic of his mission. Near every aspect was shifted to increase security and execution, and he finally saw what he believed to be them. After downloading the last of the data he wanted from the Lyran Command Center, that one man in the uniform with the sleeves too short caught his attention. There were a lot of years in that man's eyes, and he was absorbing every piece of information he came across, not like an average worker there. It was almost like looking into a mirror of himself fifteen years ago, before the modifications and the deadening of his soul.

Lucky for him, his field scouts in the Star port registered some new people, and he planned on finding out how similar their units really were. The security at the port dramatically increased, with details securing every exiting ship and checking everyone's IDs several times. They did not, however, stop the loading and launching of the craft. It looked like everything was still on schedule, which was surprising after he leaked info to the local commander about the whereabouts of the rebel militia unit he was using to place an entire contingent in his crosshairs to test out the Word of Blake's newest weapon. The results were astounding, and the possibilities of further developing this virus made his head swirl.

Most commanders had a narrow realm of influence and responsibility within the ROM network, but he knew people in high places, and he would definitely keep tabs on the White Death after it enters service. But first thing's first, he needed to get his team off this rock, and with the Lyrans on a witch hunt for a covert ops unit thanks to this other team fouling up so badly, it make things painfully difficult. This Colonel Thames couldn't possibly know two teams were here, which means that he was not discriminating and his men would be under the same paranoid scrutiny as the other team. Funny how things work out.

The Star port was about as busy as he had last seen it. This entire base was mapped out in his head, and he could instantly tell which areas have been secured and which ones have not been. He has cracked harder nuts than this before. So he made his way over to the North side of the port and dismounted, sending his three teammates with him to the loading warehouses to find some people trying their best to blend in. It was a strange, 'Where's Waldo' game with Waldo himself in camouflage, but not unmanageable.

The first two warehouses checked out fine, his team's uniforms protecting them from having to be searched and verified by the other security teams around. Then the thought hit him that if he were not so damn good at his job, he would not be caught here with his pants around his ankles. So he lead his men around to the storage yard where the large containers were dumped and stored for further use if needed. It was in a complete state of disarray, with trailers and giant metal containers strewn about, some on their side, others stacked. It was here that he found a man with an inventory checklist logging in some container information.

He elbowed the troop next to him and sent him over there to check the guy out. He had two hours to kill before heading West to secure the extraction phase of his mission, and he may as well attempt to make headway identifying anyone else that may have access to this virus. Command would appreciate a list of all the governments possessing the White Death, that is for sure.

Larson was the lucky private who had to check the guy out, and he made his way over. Acting with the utmost profession, he approached the man and asked for ID and his duty tasking. The man slowly looked around and saw Raynes and his men observing from a distance. Then he promptly drew a combat knife and punched it through Larson's left eye and the rest of his head, killing him on the spot.

* * *

Gregors should have earned an award for his acting. In all his time with the Nighthawks, he never did a lot of covert work, and his third major run at it resulted in a well executed close quarters kill in the presence of three guards suspicious of being the group Thao warned him about ten minutes ago. The guard approaching him did not use the standard protocol by the other security teams here, and his buddies were just watching from a distance instead of covering his rear, ready for assistance.

The movement was smoother than he thought it would be, him using more force than needed since it was a long time since he fought with a knife. The thing slid perfectly through the man's eye socket and the tip punched through the back of the man's head just enough for him to feel the impact of the blade on the bone through the hilt of the knife itself. As the man's body dropped, he reached out and grabbed the gun from his hands and took a knee to fire at the remaining men, who drew their weapons and scattered.

Two three-round bursts missed the group as they jumped in opposing directions, but the distraction allowed Weston and Hicks to jump out and search the body of the corpse in front of him. They found ammo and a radio, and the three of them took off in the far direction trying to distance themselves in case these really were Lyran guards. After turning the radio on, he didn't hear any distress call on the pre-logged frequencies, which was a good sign. But since he was the only one with a gun, it was a bad situation. Add that to the fact that if these men were in fact the unit Thao warned him about, then their training would put them at a significant advantage over his men. He wasn't stupid, he knew the Watch was a few legs down compared to Inner Sphere intelligence agencies.

He took a stand aiming at a corner he passed moments ago and found the appropriate angle for an ambush, which proved to be exactly the right thing to do. Right when the first pursuer showed face he lit off another burst and caught him in the arm. Instantly the man screamed and fell, trying to avoid any more fire. His friend stretched out and pulled him back to safety, allowing Gregors the opportunity to put more distance in between them again. He just hoped to God that they didn't split and try to flank him.

After another few turns Weston flagged him down and pulled him into a partially open transport trailer, a giant metal container with doors. He then pulled the door shut as quietly as possible, hiding him and his two companions from his pursuers in hopes that they would pass and give him the opportunity to come at them from behind. The radio still showed no signs of them calling for backup, and the gunfire was sparse enough to hopefully be lost in the mix of clangs and pops of the loaders and all the other activity going on in the busiest star port he has ever seen.

They waited, silently. The tension rose with every passing moment, but no one approached from outside. After two excruciatingly long minutes, Weston turned his flashlight on to see what they chose for company. Gregors just aimed at the split in the doors, for anything to happen. Eventually Hicks spoke up, in more of a whisper than anything else, "Soulder Chloride 6?"

That got Gregors' attention. "What did you say?"

Weston studied the label again, next to a biohazard sign, "Soulder Chloride 6. They sure had a lot of this stuff." He was staring at several large, empty liquid storage tanks. Large connector valves hung from the ends near them. Gregors gave Hicks his gun and stepped back from the doorway to approach the tanks. That name sounded familiar.

Gregors took the light from Weston and read the label to himself silently.

"What is it?" Weston was still curious, especially after Gregor's sudden interest.

Gregors struggled with his memory a bit, "It's some kind of pesticide. Some horribly poisonous plant killer. But I can't remember what it kills exactly."

"Oh yeah, I remember reading something about that on Kowloon," Hicks said from further down. "It suffocates them or something. Asphyxiates the pores that they inhale the carbon dioxide from. Or eats the pores away directly. I can't remember which. Bad stuff though. There was a big controversy over using it earlier on Kowloon. Environmental activists had a fit over it."

Gregors had no response, but just studied the tanks, then the valves. Hicks continued, "But that is a lot. I mean, this stuff is supposed to be _potent_. If there are any more containers full of these… that's just massive. We're talking small time plant extinction."

"You watching the door?" Gregors asked Hicks, making sure he wasn't too distracted. Then he bent down to observe the valve tips. "Well, they have been emptied recently. These are not prepped for spraying, like a crop duster or anything."

Weston took a closer look at the valves, "You are right. This stuff was pumped into something else, en masse."

Hicks looked through the crack between the doors, "I think we are all clear now."

They cracked the door open and waited a few of the longest moments in existence until moving again. The area was clear for the moment, and Gregors took the opportunity to open the next bin. It was empty.

"What are you doing?" Weston insisted.

Gregors went to the one on the other side of the one they hid in and opened the doors enough for the light to stretch its way in to the edge of the tanks he was looking for, "I need to see if there was more of this." This container was packed with empty tanks as well. He looked and realized that the color of the container, a deep orange, corresponded with the other one with the Soulder tanks. Then he looked around, and saw at least seven more. "Kerensky help us…"

Hicks tapped the container next to him to get their attention, and then twitched his head in the direction around the corner of it, telling them that something was up. They responded accordingly and Gregors took the lead.

Another two containers toward the edge of the yard and Gregors stopped cold, holding his fist up to silently command his men to crouch and visually search the area expecting trouble. Then the hair stood on the back of his neck as he felt the urge to turn around, and gravity took hold of him and pulled him down, assisting in the spin-drop he executed to dodge the bullets of the man on the top of the container behind him taking aim he caught in the corner of his eye at the last moment. He returned fire, but missed wide. Hicks and Weston made their way against that container, sure to keep their profiles hidden from the gunman who slunk back out of view. This was about as close quarters as it could get without going hand to hand.

Voices started yelling over the next two rows as Lyran guards made their way into the yard responding to the gunfire. Gregor's mind reeled and worked things through in overdrive, him consciously pushing thoughts through the gears until they formulated plans he can choose from. Then he dropped his weapon and ordered his men to follow him and follow his lead. "This way! Do _not_ attack these guys!"

Weston was about to ask if Gregors had hit his head, but thought better of it as his commander ran for the end of the yard, right in the direction of the Lyran security details. Hicks tripped as he went, slowing him down enough to get caught in the cross hairs of the men chasing them. He got pinned down by the one gunman behind the second to last container before the clearing Gregors and Weston were now crossing.

Gregors ran out and threw his arms up, yelling at what he could tell was the highest-ranking man on the scene, "It's them! They're dressed up in guards' uniforms!"

Instantly the teams broke off into smaller units and several of the men advanced to get Gregors and Weston. They submitted while the on scene commander approached. "Where are you from? Who is firing at you?"

"Back there! They didn't ask for ID or anything, they just fired." Gregors spoke in winded gasps and pointed back toward the container yard not but meters away. The guard commander finally closed the distance with Gregors and turned him around to cuff him when Hicks suddenly appeared against the last container, gunfire erupting behind him as his back slammed into the metal and he avoided the sparks exploding to his left to signify the live ammo missing their mark.

He then ran for the troops surrounding Gregors and Weston when the commander yelled over the containers, "Check fire! Confirm: code Foxhound!"

After several quiet moments, a voice rang back, "Shepard! Security team six!"

"Shit, it's them." The commander let go of Gregors and waved his arm in the direction of the voice, his men reacting accordingly, weapons up. They advanced in several angles toward the edge of the yard, ready to raid it and fish out the enemy. Gregors and his two men were left behind as a mini gunfight began.

He simply ran off with them, revealing the pass card he lifted from the commander as he stood next to him. Smiling, he headed toward the launch pads, leaving that near catastrophe behind for the Lyrans to deal with.

* * *

The blast shields started clanging to life as the Lyrans outside tried to pry their way in into the building housing Thao Prentice and his troops. Several loud clangs accompanied the usual metalwork. He figured they were timed to camouflage entry explosions elsewhere in the building. He never felt so vulnerable before.

Luckily, he had a prime resource on hand, and after several ingenuitive 'interrogation' techniques he learned in Kael's supplementary training, he was willing to speak. The injured Lyran guard, Hector, told Thao that the most valuable resource in this building is the computer servers. They were not linked to the outside, making the hubs here the only way to access the info stored by the commander and his research staff. Problem was, as Thao's team learned earlier on, when the silent alarm was tripped, the servers went into lockdown mode, initiating the heaviest security protocols and firewalls. Only the right passwords in the main computer would unlock them, or that was how it was designed anyway. He already knew the hubs were shut down.

He contacted Brevan over the radio, "Bravo Romeo Echo, this is three two lead, what is your status?"

"_This place is shut down like a vault. We are not getting out of here without them knowing."_

"Understood. They will be sending teams in any minute. Make way to the food court to cook us a meal."

"_Copy that, on my way."_

The frequencies were more than likely being tapped. With the walls, he didn't think the Lyrans were able to pick up the short wave frequencies outside as this place probably damped all radio traffic for security reasons, but he used code anyway. The Food Court was Nighthawk jargon for the Security Center. He knew it would be a primary objective for any incursion team. He just hoped two of them were enough to force a turnover from the other team.

Now he had to find out where the main server computer was, so he turned to Hector. After several attempts at getting his attention, he realized that Hector passed out from his knee wounds and would no longer be of assistance. He packed his team up and moved out looking for the damn computer. It was like navigating a submarine with no sonar through a mined valley, but it had to be done.

* * *

The five-man incursion team that entered through the roof made its way directly to the security center with the help of the schematics provided by Lyran Command. It was smooth sailing all the way there, up until the last hallway. The lead troop used his corner camera to see down the hall without exposing himself and found a lone gunman prone in a room next to the security center aiming right at him.

The commander decided to do this tactfully in case the place was booby-trapped. He sent his best man into the air ducts to get behind the gunman while the rest of them hung out and provided a distraction. It wouldn't take long as most of these rooms opened up to closets and side rooms good for getting through a vent cover unnoticed and traveling to said doorway for a kill.

Four minutes passed and the commander waited, the suspense slowly built its way up to tension.

* * *

Private Victor Kimmel made his way from the vent opening to the doorway leading to the room with the gunman. He was silent, proving the years of training by the Lyran government were well worth the taxpayers' money. He unholstered his side arm and slowly crept into the room where the gunman lay prone, aiming at his team down the hall. He gave the audio signal before leaving his enclosure for them to start moving to get the man's attention, allowing him a blind spot to attack from. He was on a ten second timer, after that, the team would advance and take the rooms in a coordinated fashion.

Finally in full view of the body, Kimmel was sure to keep his movements slow and deliberate. He took aim and was sure to keep just enough pressure off the trigger to not let the sound of the hammer give his presence away. It was then that Brevan's combat knife entered his left lung from behind and his right arm was seized to send his shot astray.

As the body fell, he stripped a flash bang from his vest and pulled the pin to roll it down the hallway toward the rest of the team that was now mobilizing after seeing Alex fake his own death in unison with the gun shot.

Alex slunk his head back into the room and covered his eyes and ears while the team in the hallway reacted to the flash bang rolling right into their formation. Three of them were able to jump to safety the moment it went off, giving them cover after their senses were rendered useless. The last man, however, was stuck in the open, blind and deaf, an easy target for Alex to exploit. Two shots perforated the senseless troop, turning him into a 200-pound sack of meat before his teammates regained their senses enough to figure out what was going on.

Finally aware of their surroundings, they scanned the hallway and the commander ordered one of the troops to stack up on the room the gunman was in previously with him while the other one cleared the security center and got the computers up and running. Then they executed.

Running together, the one man broke from them and headed straight for the security center door, doing a half-pie around the doorway and entering on his own, as brave as a hungry wolf. The other two systematically cleared what they could from the room containing Kimmel's corpse from the hallway, and finally entered. Not finding the culprits, they then proceeded to the side-room where Kimmel entered from the vent shaft. They found the cover still off, and searched the inside of the vents.

It was clear, and they moved back toward the hallway, dumbfounded and confused. Turning Kimmel's corpse over, they found not only a pocket for carrying a flash bang empty, but one for carrying a fragmentation grenade empty as well. The timing was perfect however, as their brains absorbed that detail their eyes locked on to the grenade in question as it rolled in through the doorway. _They must've ran across the hall when we were blinded,_ he thought, the feelings of failure amplified by the adrenaline rush accompanying the sight of the grenade. But his reaction was not quick enough to avoid being ripped into a hundred pieces near instantly.

The explosion was sudden and it straightened the third man in the security center right up while he finished loading the computer access codes. He turned to check on his teammates to find Alex in the doorway, gun up. It was the last thing he ever saw. It was over as quick as it began, with the outnumbered winning through superior placement tactics.

* * *

"_Three two lead, this is Bravo Romeo Echo. We have the stoves running."_

"Copy that. What is the count?" Thao moved along the right side of the latest hallway, right near a stairwell leading to the second floor.

"_No casualties. We have visual of everything now, and Alex pulled up the maps. He is finding us a way out now."_

_So much for code,_ Thao thought. He knew Brevan was not one for sneakiness, he just wanted to do his job and move on. "Outstanding. I am almost on target now. Meet up with us as soon as possible. Lead, out."

Thao then signaled for Tyler and Justin to move forward across the next hallway opening. According to the maps he saw in the lobby, the computer server had to be up ahead. He wasn't sure which room, but within the next fifty meters or so definitely.

Three hallways merged up ahead, forming a weird intersection more reminisce of a large foyer, with a large information desk in the middle and a vaulted ceiling. The hallways had a single room in between them, much in a triangular shape, with one door leading to one corridor and the other door leading to the next one. He was careful to watch through these rooms to see as much of the next hallway as possible, but not to much success.

It was near the opening to the foyer that needed the most attention, and he really hated to have to cross it, but the server looked to be on the other side, and he needed to get there before the Lyran team did.

Be it fate, or just bad timing, but upon passing the end of the wall that made the right side of his corridor, he entered the opening right as a Lyran soldier did not but two meters to his right. Each of their movements identical, their surprise just as well.

Both of them reached for their rifles and twisted to aim them at each other, creating a mirrored image in which one man saw himself in the actions of the other. It was a silent stand off as the teams behind both of them stood back in their respective hallways awaiting the bloodbath that would result in either of them firing.

Time stood still as a single bead of sweat fell from Thao's face and made progress toward the ground. None of them watched it, but both of them felt it, like a timer counting down to the killing moment. The moment the drop hit, the world erupted into fire and light. The next Lyran troop pulled his comrade back into their hallway while Tyler kicked Thao across the opening and behind the large desk. Both fired at the same time, both missed, much to each other's relief.

But now it was war, and the Lyrans used their superior firepower to their advantage. With Thao cut off from his team, the desk he hid behind took more bullets in a ten second time frame than some armored cars take in several years time. Tyler took his cue and headed for the doorway to the first room between both of their hallways, firing an elongated burst into the far wall where the men stood, forcing them to hit the floor as rounds punched through the wall and right over their heads.

Thao took the opportunity to expose himself just long enough to return fire at the soldiers, taking several quick shots before the glint of silver coating on the sprinkler nozzles in the ceiling caught his eye.

The return fire was chewing the desk up quick, clanging against the metal backing and threatening to penetrate any second. So he quit wasting time and shot one of the nozzles out, instantly activating the sprinkler system again and saturating the soldiers in a wash of rain. The distraction was just enough for him to jump through the new wall of gunfire and hit the floor, sliding through the water covered surface behind a series of metallic filing boxes, about four in all, gun out and firing back at his targets. He was hit in the right leg on his way behind the unit, but saw, much to his satisfaction, that he nailed one of the team in the chest with the last round of his magazine, sending the man backward onto the ground. Whether it penetrated his armor or not was up for grabs, but it was one less gun aiming at him for the moment. This would provide cover for another minute or so before he needed to find something else.

Thao could see near everything now through the reflection of the glass wall on the opposite side of the open cross section. One of the Lyran soldiers ran and hurdled the desk he was behind moments ago, gaining the optimum position to snipe Thao down should he show any part of himself from behind the filing units. But what disturbed him the most was the figure appearing from behind the door of the room behind Tyler.

"Tyler! On your six--!" Several shots from the desk-hidden soldier shut him up quick, and Tyler moved just in time to avoid having his head smashed in by the Lyran soldier. He sidestepped and kicked the weapon from his hands, but the soldier jabbed his gut and uppercut his face quickly, giving him the initiative and momentum of the fight.

Thao quickly removed the empty magazine from his rifle and loaded the only spare he had, hoping it was enough to carry him through this. Watching the fight, Justin was trying to shoot the man Tyler was brawling with, but could not get a clear shot. He was constantly turning his head to make sure the one behind the desk didn't simply turn and take a shot at them since they were exposed from that angle. Thao needed to get the ball rolling, "Justin! Take the shot!"

Trusting the fact that Kael Pershaw's training had made marksmen out of each cadet in the Falcon Watch ranks, Justin's confidence was wavering, as he knew if he missed, he would surely be the next victim of no less than two armed Lyrans surrounding him. But the soldier behind the desk heard Thao and turned to capitalize on his concern. In the window Thao saw Tyler head-but his opponent and elbow him in the face, sending him into the wall and opening him up for Justin to finish him off with his pistol. Right as he fired, Thao turned the corner and shot the desk-hidden Lyran in the back as he aimed at Justin, racking up two kills for the Nighthawks instantly, but resulting in Thao's rifle being shot from his hands by the remaining troopers.

Then another Lyran team caught his eye, from the third hallway straight across from him. They were advancing down the walls in a three by two formation, and near instantly had a firing solution for Thao, who had no cover between them. Mustering all his strength, he jumped with his good leg back behind the desk, sliding in the water into the and under the body of the soldier he shot moments earlier. The armor on the late soldier gave all the protection Thao needed at the moment, though he could do nothing but remain in the fetal position to minimize his target profile. The noise was absurd as so many weapons were firing at once, from several directions under the water and sirens of the fire suppression system.

One of the remaining three Lyrans of the first team closed the distance between him and Thao, jumping up on the desk to get a clear shot and finish him off while the other team hit the edge of their respective hallway. Thao saw out of the corner of his eye the heaving body of an adrenaline pumped man determined to kill, crouching low on the desk and taking aim before several rounds violently perforated his back and neck, sending chunks of his throat and shoulders out across the opening above the desks. Justin kept himself in the open to protect Thao from the threat, and paid the ultimate price as several dozen rounds slammed through him into the wall behind. The new team made their entry a classic one, cornering Tyler behind in the room between the hallways and Thao under the body between the desks.

And that is when he heard it: the Falcon war cry. Alex and Brevan appeared behind the second team guns blazing, waving the barrels of their weapons horizontally across their plain of vision and decimating the five soldiers in the open in moments. They surged forward like bulldozers, mowing over the front five and covering the corner to the hallway the other Lyrans were still using.

Then he heard the thumps of multiple grenades hitting the ground, one near the body he was hiding behind, one on the other side of the desk in the intersection, one through the doorways in the hallway Tyler was rushing out of with the desperation of a man trying to outrun death itself, and several others, even flash bangs among them.

Each went off in a blaze of white and rush of heat, and then reality erased itself, leaving nothing but silence.

* * *

The binoculars focused in on the man climbing a steep hill with too little practice. His movements were slow, too deliberate. That's when Julian put two and two together. "It's his."

"Are you sure?" Ashley took the binoculars from him to study the man ahead. They had found a vehicle on the outskirts of the heavy tree line about a kilometer back. It had some animal containment equipment and a biosuit stored in the rear, along with some empty tranquilizer dart cases. They instantly assumed someone was here for the same reason they were, and they parked their vehicle out of sight and continued on foot since the terrain was not conducive for driving anything. "Wait… I know him."

"What?"

"Yeah, I met him in the Danner research center before those rebels came." Images from that night made their way to her subconscious, reminding her of both the head researcher, and the man that nearly killed her.

"Good." And Julian moved forward in the direction of the man, who was alone and near the crest of that hill he was negotiating. Ashley took after him, being as silent as he was. They had split the gear between them: a net, some tranquilizer equipment, weapons, and all of the goodies Julian had left after his rescue operation, which wasn't a lot. He wanted to get this done quickly since that nagging feeling never left him since their escape from the rebel base two days ago.

They made their way toward the man through the foliage and acclimated to the climate. It was a chilly, overcast afternoon, the kind where the sky hung low and shrank in around you until you felt like you were in a small dome. The silence of this section of forest was creepy, no crickets or normal fauna sounds made their way to the ears of the two.

To the left they saw an abandoned mining facility, with some heavy equipment, diggers, dead trucks, tools, and tents. Anything of value was taken from there ages ago and what remained was nothing but a shell of an operation. Even its presence they found to be eerie.

* * *

Lex Barret hit the top of the hill he so carefully climbed, several times nearly loosing his grip and falling to the bottom again. He was not all that athletic to begin with, but having this much gear on and moving against gravity really set him at a disadvantage. But lucky for him, he had a great view of the fields ahead of him, and one of them had a caleb herd grazing near the middle. These were a different variation of caleb, smaller and darker, leaner and less conducive for eating. But they had survived the plague all the same, having realized that everything else in the area was dead. Since the virus had a shelf life of ten hours in the atmosphere, if it had ravaged this area in wake of the initial Kenton City contamination, it would have been long gone by now. Since he left his bio-suit in the vehicle, his cards were finally folding in his favor.

He took a short rest to watch the herd and make sure it was not heading out of the area soon. After a few moments, he heard faint footsteps behind him. Spinning around, he saw a man in a black combat uniform, pretty scuffed up and wrinkly, alongside an Asian woman in similar clothing. _Wait,_ he told himself. He recognized her.

"You. What are you doing here?" He rose quickly in anticipation of an attack, as the lead man was moving with a sense of purpose.

She responded gently, "Same thing as you. We're here for a carrier."

"But…" and his suspicions were confirmed, "You're not part of the assistance force, are you?"

She walked past him slightly and looked out over the field at the calebs, "No. And you're out here alone."

She obviously thought that was significant, and he instantly knew she was for real. "What happened?" she asked.

"You mean…"

"With the Lyrans. Where's the rest of your team?"

He took a deep breath, "We had a falling out. Thames is not in this for Kenton. I don't know what his deal is, but my priorities are too heavy to wait for him for everything."

Julian was still back, suddenly looking around and taking a knee. Ashley picked up on it right away, "Hey, what is it?"

Julian just surveyed the area behind him, not moving, much like a cat pauses when using all of its senses to locate something. "Get him out of here."

She started to approach him when he elaborated, "We've been followed. Get the carrier, I will take care of this."

Lex's heart rate rose with that remark. He knew they brought trouble with them, as a slight breeze hit them as he spoke. Ashley followed suit and took Lex's hand. They started for the side of the hill that lead to the caleb field while Julian made his way back down the way he came.

"What did you bring with you?" she asked.

He either told her or showed her everything, including a tranquilizer rifle, darts, adhesive tape, a large bag, and water. Then she pointed toward his personal bag, a small one padded and locked up. He told her he had samples of the virus in there for study later. He kept it with him everywhere he went in fear that it may be stolen or misplaced. He claimed to have electron microscope equipment in the truck as well, but it was too much to carry with him.

* * *

Julian stood in the center of the abandoned mining camp holding a lead pipe. Standing on top of a useless bulldozer, he struck the pipe against one of the cab supports to produce and echoing 'clang' that resonated through the forest around him. He continued, striking it several times until he finally showed, emerging from the tree line slowly.

Wraith stood there, in his flexive combat unit issued to him by WoB command. It covered his arms and even his neck, being skintight. It was designed to shift between appropriate types of camouflage like the skin of a chameleon, though these were preset. He had his woodland camo setting on, and the blend of browns and greens conforming to his body created a powerful effect. He was in his mid thirties, and his posture told Julian that he was good at what he did.

Julian had nothing to say. He knew he followed him from the rebel base, picking him and Ashley up again at some point in the city before they left. He knew he was Special Ops, and he knew he had a darkened soul. His purpose was that of taking lives, something Julian has ever so tried to avoid being associated with. But he knew his own kind, and Wraith stood strong, probably thinking the same thoughts.

No words went between them. They knew what this was about. It was a showdown. Julian was to protect Ashley and Lex so they could get a carrier back to his lab in the Danner suburb, and Wraith was to kill them all and find out whom they worked for. But the theatrics got boring real fast. He wanted to get on with this.

Julian leapt from the bulldozer to the forest floor, and rolled his neck to get all the kinks out. Wraith walked in his direction, never losing eye contact, and drew a Chinese sword from a sheath behind his back. He stood tall and pointed it at Julian with his one arm out, the challenge was made.

Julian took a deep breath, pushed every thought in the world aside until his mind was blank, completely synchronized with the world around him, and ran for him. His boots' grip was acceptable on the dry ground and he was able to pick up speed fast, holding the pipe, which was about five feet long ahead of him like the bo he learned to wield from Tasaki Sensei back in the day. Bojutsu ended up being his specialty, and he could not have felt more comfortable running into this combat.

They collided, Julian throwing his pipe to the side to catch Wraith in the neck while his opponent ducked and reeled for a counter blow with his sword. Their breathing was calm, their movements smooth.

The sword thrust sharply at Julian's chest, and he moved just in time to avoid being skewered on the spot while whipping the pipe around his head and aiming low for a leg sweep. Wraith jumped and tucked his feet up, coming down with the sword heading straight for the crown of Julian's head, to which he angled his pipe diagonally and deflected the blow. The clang of the impact being the first sound to escape this mortal combat.

Then Julian moved in quickly, closing the distance and rendering both of their weapons useless due to the proximity. He head butt Wraith in the face, then dropped to break one of his knees, to which he simply did a back flip out of the way. The sting of the butt surprised Julian, this not being like any face he hit before. _What the hell…?_

A small hum started to emanate from the sword's handle, telling Julian right away that his own weapon was soon to be useless. In truth, it was a vibrosword, and now that Wraith realized that Julian was the real deal, he decided to activate it to keep his half of the combat.

His first swipe was for Julian's head again, his block making the vibrosword slice clean through the metal pipe and sending Julian back into a reverse roll. He now held a pair of thirty inch pipes, which he used as improvised escrima sticks. This combat changed entirely for him now, as Wraith closed the distance once again, his feet running in a straight line to their target.

Julian managed to maneuver just right, and jabbed the now sharpened end of one of his pipes right into the man's chest, hoping to punch through and take him down. But for some reason, it stopped in the muscle, and Wraith so much as blinked at it instead of showing any pain. He brought the sword up and forced Julian to abandon half of his weapons, now falling from the man's chest and landing on the ground. From there on he was on the defensive.

Wraith sliced and swung, taking out everything Julian managed to put in between him and his opponent. The vibrosword sliced through wood, steel, and all composite metals like butter, and Julian had no avenue to regain the offensive. But he was running out of ground as the wooded tree line approached.

So he quickly reversed his strategy and picked up a clump of dirt from behind a tree trunk, just outside Wraith's field of vision and threw it at the advancing swordsman. It hit him in the face and Julian followed it up with a jump kick to both the chest and arm, causing the sword to fly from his grip and sending him back to the ground. Julian caught the sword in a smooth motion and swiped at the man, managing to cut three of his toes off with the tip of his boot as he barely got out of the way in time.

Wraith stood up and looked at his little stubs, each barely oozing a bluish black blood, and he showed no sign of pain. Julian was slightly confused, but that was all Wraith needed to grab Julian by the throat, and pull him in for a head butt of his own. The impact was insane, like having a brick launched at your face. Wraith then swung him with one arm into the side rail of the main elevator heading down into the mineshaft. Luckily, his back hit the bar first, causing his head to snap back. But it was better than another impact to the skull so soon. He would not survive a moment of unconsciousness against this beast. The sword flew off into the forest, and lost all meaning to the fight as Wraith closed the distance and again wrapped one of his hands around Julian's throat.

He held him onto the rail, bowing him backward, head first into the mineshaft hole and reaching for Julian's feet with his other hand to throw him over. Julian managed to both grab the rail to create some kind of resistance and move his feet enough to get them out of reach of the man's searching hand. But his oxygen supply was gone, and he started to realize that this could be a very short fight.

Right then, when the thought of defeat entered his mind, he heard a female voice yell at the man trying to push him over the side of a very deep hole. "Hey you! We've got unfinished business!"

Wraith turned to see Ashley with a small hatchet swinging at the top of a rusty water-mane pipe valve, and knock the end off, sending an intense jet of water right into his chest.

The water knocked him off balance and allowed Julian to recover, though he was mostly concerned with getting some fresh air into his lungs.

She ran onto the top of the elevator covering and descended feet first, intending to land on Wraith's head and take him out of the equation altogether. But Wraith had her number, catching one of her legs and snapping it on the spot. The break was horribly audible, and Ashley instantly winced in pain. Upon her impact with the ground, she dropped a small pouch she had on her, as Wraith proceeded to grab her and throw her into a large tree trunk, knocking the wind out of her and making the trunk shudder under the impact.

Julian, close to the ground and gasping, noticed a little bit of green stick out of the pouch. He reached for it and found it to be a small vial, sealed with a minute amount of thick containment gel. He knew exactly what this had to be, and pocketed it immediately.

Ashley managed to get a hold of Wraith's arm as he went to scoop her up, faking him out and rolling out of the way while breaking it in half. She traveled another few feet and rose to watch him react, which was most stunning of all. He simply grabbed his dangling arm with his other hand and wracked it back into place, slowly moving his fingers afterward to ensure it was working again. Then he looked up at her and held out his hands as razor sharp grappling claws extended out through each of his fingertips. _My God…_ she thought to herself, only seeing such devices once in her life, and never imagining how effective they would be as weapons by such a dominating fighter.

Astonished, she tried to get away to a tool chest not too far from her, but couldn't out run the man with her broken leg dragging behind her. He simply stomped his way over to her and reached down when Julian landed on his back, wrapping an arm around his fact to blind him for the moment. All rationality had left him, as the sight of the Ashley in that much trouble set him off. The world turned to shades of red again, and the only purpose for him until the end of eternity was to give this man pain. All his training, all his accomplishments meant nothing if she didn't survive, the only thing he ever felt truly comfortable with. "Ashley, get out of here! He's mine!"

She took her cue and headed for the tree line, never letting those two out her sight. She wanted to help, but knew she was just a liability in this combat and that Julian worked better alone. She did save him though, and that counted the most to her.

Julian swung around the man and landed in front of him, taking a nanosecond to look him in the fact before jamming his thumb into the man's right eye. Wraith reeled back and kicked Julian in the chest to disengage them, which forced Julian's thumb out and sent him backward farther than a normal man's kick should.

His thumb was cold and grainy, and he noticed a few scratches on it, something telling him that he just destroyed a cybernetic eye. _That explains a lot…_ he thought as he worked his way right to get a better position on his target, preparing to explode again, gathering energy from some internal source he could not identify. His blood was red hot and it was time to work.

But Wraith was done messing around, having taken on two of Clan Jade Falcon's finest warriors an still holding an edge. He made his way in sideways and spun backward, throwing a knife hand into Julian's chest and ripping a chunk of flesh from it with his claws while breaking a lower rib. He followed with a back fist and impacted the side of Julian's face so hard he thought he broke part of it, and Julian's left arm was instantly lacerated open by a swiping attack from Wraith's animal like hands. He kicked the back of Julian's knee out, sending him to the ground and swiped upward, slicing four canyons open along his back and forcing him to arc forward. He subsequently fell on Wraith's kicking foot from underneath and sailed away in a spin to land two meters away.

But the adrenaline was too hot in Julian's veins, and he felt no pain, yet. He instantly kicked himself up and followed up with several stunning blows of his own, screaming a blood curdling cry from the pits of his soul. He kicked the man in the crotch, broke his elbow again, and sent a nice edged fist into his shoulder joint, instantly dislocating it. A shoulder ram seemed the most appropriate to finish the attack off, throwing that rage into a primitive technique not quiet expected from such a skilled opponent. It was mostly power and not so much skill, and it was the shift in execution that threw Wraith off and allowed such attacks to succeed.

With most of his renewed energy spent in that last barrage, he collected his bearing again and moved back a step to baited him in. Wraith didn't allow him much time to recover, lunging instantly for another attack. This one was partially successful, as it pinned Julian to another tree trunk with the man's massive fist and causing some small amount of internal bleeding from the impact alone. Some blood shot from Julian's mouth as his head snapped forward and he avoided smacking it on the tree behind him. With his target front and center, he threw his arm around in an attempt to slice off his face, which Julian avoided, forcing Wraith's clawed hand to chew into the tree so far that he couldn't pull it out right away. And then he had Wraith where he wanted him.

In a smooth motion not seen by many in this world, Julian drew both of his custom made curved combat knives from his armpit sheaths he always kept on him, something he only used when no other option was available, and sliced the bottom of Wraith's leading triceps and latisimus dorsi at the same time. Now holding his knives in a reversed fashion and taking advantage of his opponent's preoccupation with trying to free his hand from the tree, he ducked his body to the right, under the man's arm, and proceeded to expertly slice one of his hamstrings and send one blade around his neck to slice his throat open, following with the other one other his shoulder and up through his rib cage under the man's left pectoral, carefully avoiding any major muscles as he learned earlier that they were too dense for normal knife attacks.

Wraith then stuttered and shivered, shooting that blackish blood out from his throat and flailed his arms to jolt Julian off his back, finally freeing himself from the grip of the trunk. The attack was so quick and seamless that there was nothing he could do to avoid getting stabbed all those times, each strike designed to set the body up for the next one, always attacking the spot left vulnerable by the body's reflexive reaction to the previous strike.

Wraith turned around and Julian, with what strength he had left, kicked the man back into the tree trunk and thrust his knife through his throat, pinning him to the tree and punching the other knife again through his chest into where his heart should be.

And that was the last of his energy. He took a step back, coughing up more blood from his torso injury sustained only moments prior and hearing a wheeze emanate from his throat as he struggled to keep his balance. The head impacts were messing up his equilibrium, and he knew he was worse for wear.

Wraith just shivered for a moment, much like any human would do before it went into shock. But surprisingly, instead of dying, he slowly reached up and pulled the knife from his throat, freeing him from the tree and taking a heavy step toward Julian.

Now, completely defenseless, out of energy, and utter amazed that this thing hasn't died yet, Julian caught the body of Wraith as a new hatred formed in his remaining eye. The man surged at him and tried to land on his center mass, using his body weight to crush the life out of him.

Julian could not get enough of his own body out from under Wraith's in time, and felt his legs go numb as he went down. But Wraith was still alive and kicking, bleeding all over Julian, but still working his arms up to finish him off.

As his body arched back to allow some room for him to deliver the final blow, clasping his hands together to crush Julian's skull and end his life, Julian pulled the green vial from his pocked and rammed it into the hole in the man's throat. Then he crushed the vial and pushed the rest of it in there, forcing the liquid gel out and directly into Wraith's body. His eye instantly went wide and his arms slowly dropped.

But instead of falling on Julian, he managed to fall backward onto the side of a bulldozer track, sitting upright. He breathed heavy a few times, and was slowly dying, with no energy to move.

Julian looked at his hand and saw the cuts from the broken vial. He knew he was infected, and the stuff was not going to take long to kill him, not in the condition he was in.

He tried to look around, but failed, his neck giving out. His entire body failed to respond out of fatigue, and now, the virus coursing through his veins.

The only thought he had was not of defeating that unstoppable monster, but of Ashley. She made her way out well before it came to this. She should be safe if she avoids this area. She knew the score: if he didn't return, take the scientist and the carrier back to the lab and get a damn cure. It was her duty, and her charge as a human being. This thing had to be stopped before people like that behemoth could ever use it against others.

He closed his eyes and saw her face, fresh at first, and then it faded into darkness. _This is a good death,_ he thought to himself, each of his limbs losing feeling and sending him into a restful euphoria. In fact, he could almost hear her voice calling his name. And then there was nothing.


	5. Chapter Four: Sacrifice

**CHAPTER FOUR: SACRIFICE**

The walls seemed to move, quickly, bobbing up and down. Color bled its way into everything, and Thao suddenly regained his sense of reality and realized he was being carried somewhere. He quickly jerked himself free and landed on the floor, instantly agitating his leg wound and grimacing in pain.

"Hey!" Brevan just verbally jolted Thao into awareness. He looked around and saw Alex and Brevan on either side of him, ready to help him up.

"Savrashi," he cursed as his mind caught up.

"We won, kind of. I am getting you to the security room so we are at least grouped up." Brevan helped him up and put one arm over his shoulder so he could walk the rest of the way.

Ahead, Tyler came out of the security room door, "They are keeping their distance. Whatever they have in here, they are not risking another direct firefight… yet."

Thao entered and sat in one of the rolling chairs near the security monitors.

Brevan updated him, "Alex found a sewage tunnel system that runs under everything. We do not know about internal piping clogging the holes up, but it should be large enough for a vehicle. We called Gennis, and he is on his way."

"The Lyrans will have those covered. We need another way out."

"Neg, the tunnel does not run under this building. So far, the security cameras show them untouched. We need to make it here to reach the system. Gennis will get as close as he can." Brevan pointed to the next building on the aerial map of the area.

"That is some distance to run on this leg."

"If you are not up to it—"

"Screw that. You know I am making it out of here. All of us are."

Brevan then took the moment to get the wheels in motion, "Alex, get back to the main server and download all those files. They are willing throw people into the fire for them, and I want to know why. Take Tyler with you and get back double quick."

"Aff!" Alex yelled it while running out the door, already reacting to the order before it was finished.

Then Thao started looking at the screens. "That is a crappy distance… we will need a distraction."

Brevan sat next to him and joined his train of thought, "Yeah, I thought about that. Luckily, we have options," he said with a smile.

* * *

Kirsa Lindemann was extremely frustrated at the incompetence of Thames' forces at containing this mess. They failed at every level of execution, from preventive security to taking that damn building back with a larger force to losing those infiltrators in the security uniforms in the star port moments ago. Sure, they had no clue what to expect in there, but something had to give, it was their main research building after all.

"Colonel, I request my men be put on this, immediately." She stood over Thames now, sitting in his command chair and coordinating several recon runs around the building to formulate ideas on how to take it again without inviting another bloodbath.

He turned his head away and inhaled deeply, entertaining the thought of involving her. But in truth, after seeing the performance of the rebel militia troops once under her command against his men, his confidence in their ability to fight was near diminished. Of course, he did not want the rebels to fight well, but it was a lose-lose for Kirsa, whether she knew it or not.

But his main concern was control. He did not want to rely on the local commander to secure his own compound. It made him look incompetent, and the smoothness of Operation: Whitewash relied on his ability to maintain strict control over everything.

His lack of reply prompted her to take things into her own hands. She turned her head and looked at her aide, "Assemble my command lance, and get my ride ready. Second and fourth infantry are to get suited up and ready for transport to the target building--"

"Enough," Thames put his hand up to stop her. "Get your men ready and have them meet Phillips on the ground." Hauptmann Phillips was his ground commander, and coordinator for the incursion teams. "Have one lance on the corners and another in patrol patterns." If she's going to do this anyway, he may as well have it coordinated with something he could work with. He did realize he could use her now, but didn't show it in his tone.

She just nodded and left the command center, anxious to get in the pilot seat of a 'mech again. The bureaucratical BS was getting to her head.

* * *

Gennis Newclay maneuvered his buggy down the water access tunnels fairly easily, as they were generally a straight line from the processing plant to the different districts. The bottom of the tunnel was a flat surface, as it was designed for repair trucks to make their way up and down for emergency work and routine maintenance. The lamps he had on the head of this thing shown far ahead, telling him just how little danger he was in. He was almost in place to give Thao a return call and get the ball rolling.

* * *

Each hallway was cleared out already, but Alex moved with a certain sense of paranoia anyway. Any of these hallways could be filled with more Lyran troops, aiming dozens of gun barrels at his head as he moved from the central server to the security center. Of course, that is the nature of paranoia, that feeling of helpless vulnerability.

He survived the trip however, and entered the security room with two copies of everything behind the firewalls in the servers. If the Lyrans were sacrificing troops to keep something secret, then it was in these. He found Thao and Brevan looking at the screens, making sure the outsides were clear.

He quickly skimmed them over and found a team of Lyran reconnaissance checking out the south side of the building. "We going to have company again? Where is Tyler?"

Brevan turned his head away from the display, "We sent him to the south side of the building… we need to get locked and loaded."

Alex handed the data discs to Thao, who in turned gave one to Brevan. "But Thao, I am going to out there in the fire--"

"It does not matter what they know we have, as long as we have it. If I do not make it, you know what to do."

Brevan knew that doubling everything was a way of preservation. So of course he took a copy, though he did not want to entertain the thought of Thao eating it any time soon. He was the heart and soul of the Nighthawks.

Alex walked up to Brevan and asked the obvious, "So, what do you have planned?"

Brevan pointed at the aerial layout of the complex, and pointed to the building they were in. Then he moved his finger to the building directly east of it, "I have been looking at the layout of these buildings here, and found out that Kerensky is smiling on us today." The building to the east is where Thao and Tyler had to get to, the one above the sewer access tunnel.

Brevan then slid his finger to the left, stopping two buildings west of theirs, directly opposite of Thao's target. Alex looked closer and saw the giant metal doors that are a dead giveaway of a 'mech bay. Then he felt his heart speed up and smile creep across his face.

Thao gave the call into his communicator, "Tango Yankee Lima, start the fireworks."

* * *

Normally, everything in a medical lab is operated by electricity, leaving little room for natural gas or anything needed to fuel burners and sterilize equipment. The lab in Danner was set up using standard 31st century technology. That was compromised however, and everyone was moved here, presumably a secure location.

The irony of it being taken by a foreign intelligence unit was not lost on Tyler, but his concern rested more with the particulars of setting up a field lab in such a small amount of time. The entire rear half of the building was converted into laboratories and testing areas. Of course, they were evacuated when the bullets started flying, but upon passing through Tyler noticed several fuel lines and burners amongst the equipment present. These needed gas, and the gas was stored somewhere.

He was to create a distraction to get Brevan and Alex out to, get this: provide a distraction to get him and Thao out. Is that not teamwork or what? It was a long haul to the next building on Thao's bad leg, and while they did find a motorized cart, he knew that a bad explosion would be counterproductive in providing a proper distraction. The 'mechs in the area would immediately be ordered in to secure the building specifically to prevent any escape. This was a messy solution to a compound problem, but one that had its perks.

After all his training and years upon years of following clan war doctrine, he was now to create havoc for the sake of creating havoc, and he couldn't be happier. He walked through the mechanical rooms like a lottery winner would skim through a mall, picking up a large wrench here, some cloth over there, eyeballing a hatchet inside a fire case on the far wall. If one were present, they could almost hear him humming to himself.

He fit the cloth into a fuel can he found, and knocked the control valves off of several natural gas pipe junctions. He then found where the water supply was fed into the building, mostly for the sprinkler system, and turned it off to the best of his ability.

In passing, he casually took the hatchet from its case and hurled it across the room into the gas lines leading from their source into the building, separating the hosing and sending a hiss into the air. Curiosity overtook him though, and he decided he wanted to see the source itself, you know, to gauge its explosive potency. He followed the lines through another room, picking up an acetylene torch as he went and primed it.

Once around the corner however he saw the gas storage room. It was filled with smaller tanks and one rather ominous one in the corner with flammable markings on it. This was several times what he expected, and a simple, "Wowwww," escaped his mouth as he dropped the torch and walked through, opening the valves to several of the smaller tanks and knocking on the large one to see how full it was.

Then his radio crackled to life, half scaring the shit out of him as a simple spark could do him in with the fumes accumulating. _"Tango Yankee Lima, are you finished yet?"_

Hurrying out of the room, he picked the fuel can up and got to a preferred throwing distance to the opening of the room. He removed the cloth and abandoned the plan of a slow detonation. "Almost. Lead?"

"_Go ahead."_

Tyler pulled the pin on the grenade he brought with him, dropped it in the fuel can, and hurled it into the storage room, then ran like there was no tomorrow back through the building.

"You might want to get under a desk or something."

"_Why? It is just supposed to be a small distract--"_

* * *

The explosion was massive. The entire military complex with eleven buildings in all shook, and even the residents of Danner turned their heads in stunning amazement as the sound hit their city in a concussive wave. Almost a quarter of the entire building was taken out in a single moment as all the gas in the lines ignited and fed the explosion deeper into the rear of the building, expanding the initial blast radius and obliterating the Lyran recon team and a VTOL unfortunate enough to be close enough at the moment of detonation. The craft was barraged by building debris acting as shrapnel and crash landed in the opening south of the building while a giant cloud of dust from the source of the explosion rolled its way over it. The gas burned clean, but with no sprinkler system to help contain it, the south end of the building went up quick, the parts not blown off of it collapsing in on itself, creating an awe inspiring spectacle of destruction. It was random, unexpected, and wreaked of overkill. Soon, black smoke from the south end of the burning structure roiled its way over the clearings to the south and west, hiding the destruction from curious eyes and masking two men on a motorized cart making their way across.

* * *

Alex and Brevan were already on their way out, using the smokescreen as cover and the mass confusion as to why the target building randomly detonated. The sheer size of the explosion shocked both of them, who were expecting a series of smaller ones aimed at grabbing the attention of the Lyrans watching the place. This was… excessive.

"Holy shit! What happened?!" Alex shouted over the cart's engine, which was at full throttle as Brevan steered it west along the next building.

"I do not know," Brevan's mind raced to make good of the changing situation. "But play dead in the back there, I have a plan."

Alex moved without hesitating into the rear of the cart and acted like a casualty. For some reason, he knew exactly what Brevan was thinking, and he liked it, on some unclanlike level. He knew full well how distasteful this was going to be in the eyes of any average warrior, though he weighed it against leaving his occupation zone vulnerable to that virus. Somehow, he did not figure decisions like that in when he signed on to the Watch, supposedly a second rate outfit. He couldn't help but smile as he was supposed to play pain in the back of an improvised rescue cart.

They approached the giant doors of the 'mech bay, which were actually open, giving Brevan the opportunity to look inside and start window shopping early. The two guards at the front raised their rifles at him and ordered him to halt, which he slowed in response to seem threatless until he was close enough to talk to them.

"We have an injured man here! That explosion took out my entire team! We need to get him inside." Brevan jumped out of the cart and moved back to grab Alex's legs, which were limp in his façade.

The two guards responded accordingly, with both of them approaching the cart to assist while one of them hit his radio. The first guard grabbed Alex's shoulders and helped him lift him off the cart and maneuver around to aim the body at the doorway.

"Desk, this is Security detail four, we have injured outside our location. We need EMTs at--" The sight of Brevan dropping Alex's legs and drawing his pistol shocked him mid sentence. Brevan fired two rounds into the man's shoulders and another two into his legs, incapacitating him on the spot. Alex turned to Surprised Guard Number Two and elbowed him in the face, forcing him around and fisting him in the temple to knock him out while Brevan hurried him on into the 'mech bay. This needed to be fast, lest the initiative be blown and the whole op goes to pot.

Running into the 'mech bay, he noticed none of the techs quite knew what happened outside aside from the few rounds fired off. With all the recent gunfire, not too many of them were concerned. He looked for a 'mech that he wanted and found it quickly enough. He told Alex earlier that they needed to pick up brutes with a lot of short-range firepower and even more armor. Sadly, this expeditionary force had second-rate equipment. Lucky for Brevan, he knew every design he saw, and pointed Alex toward the one he wanted to augment the one he already chose. They split off and hit the access ladders, inadvertently gaining the attention of the techs on their way up.

The technicians shouted and scuttled around, one actually heading for the door controls to contain these guys so they couldn't escape once ousted from the 'mechs. Needless to say, it took all of them completely by surprise and the internal security team moved in position to cover the cockpits to both 'mechs to catch these guys upon exiting.

The thing no one inside the compound accounted for was the prototype neural converters and decoder boxes used to break the access codes to the onboard computers. Within twenty long and silent seconds, the _Stalker_ and _Banshee_ battlemechs the two men sealed themselves into rumbled to life, and expectedly, everyone in the bay cleared a path.

Opening the door was the easy part, and picking out targets once outside was not much more of a challenge. Pretty much any thing that exploded was game. Alex started picking off every vehicle in sight while Brevan maneuvered around to get a better view of the incoming Lyran 'mechs. The two heavies from the guard lance, a _Penetrator_ and a _Dragonfire_ worked their way over from the research building where they were stationed in response to the incursion. _So far, so good,_ Brevan thought to himself as he became aware of the guard towers around him. It was time to get to work.

* * *

The chaos was instant, with reports chiming in from several locations about 'mech jackings and building explosions. What was a dead heat situation just boiled over in the worst possible way. One of the guard tower communications was cut short as a gauss slug ripped through it mid sentence, and another decided to abandon its post before an LRM salvo blew out its supports. Slowly, Thames' eyes were being gouged out, and his responders were split into two groups, with the heavies already on site making their way over and the two Atlases at the gate being assigned inward.

The _Penetrator_ worked its way along the main road, open enough for him to hit full throttle while his lancemate lagged behind a bit on the next street. They were going to open fire at max range to get the attention of the jacked 'mechs, but their targets kept disappearing behind several larger structures, bobbing their heads around and always keeping something in between them. The flashes and low rumbles of explosions reminded them every second of how important it was to get there and stop these madmen from destroying everything.

Another bright flash hit the cockpit of the lead 'mech, signifying a fuel truck in the distance being hit by a volley of short-range missiles from the _Stalker_. Turning the corner to open his field of vision up to the carnage ahead, he noticed the _Banshee_ some distance behind the other 'mech literally kicking a garbage truck over and firing both PPCs into it, launching it like a hockey puck into the corner supports of a garage overhang. The overhang collapsed and trapped all the vehicles inside. Then, without missing stride, it turned and fired a PPC right into the knee of his _Penetrator_, sending a shudder through his chassis and forcing him to shift the weight of the machine to the left to take the weight stress off of that joint for it to cool before continuing. His shifting was the worst thing he could do however, as the _Banshee_ instantly followed up with its other PPC and its gauss rifle, somehow managing to aim them both into his left shoulder, pushing his already left-heavy 'mech back and nearly toppling it in one salvo. It now took all his concentration to keep the thing upright when the _Stalker_ opened fire on his lancemate. They lost the initiative before they even had a chance to gain it.

The _Banshee_ kept pressing the charge, firing all of its weapons at just the right intervals to keep from overheating, creating a consistent stream of weapons fire. First his _Penetrator's _left arm was disabled, then two pulse lasers in its right torso were taken out of commission. He was being picked apart at the seams. His return fire failed to punch through the armor of that recently renovated design, but he kept on it anyway, trying to buy time for his reinforcements to show up. When it hit him that he didn't have to be in the open to keep these bastards occupied.

He maneuvered behind some other structured trying to flank the _Banshee _and give time for his heat levels to drop when the _Stalker_ walked right into view like it knew exactly what was going on. At point blank range, his _Penetrator's _chest was hit and his cockpit erupted in warning sirens. Four heat sinks just kicked offline and his sensors went to pot. On top of that, his lancemate was having just as much fun, reporting that he tried to dodge the _Banshee_ but misstepped and hit a building.

The _Penetrator _somehow managed to stay upright and swing its good arm at the _Stalker_, but just missed and closed his eyes as the enemy 'mech backed up two paces and opened up its most violent barrage yet. The _Penetrator's_ auto-eject kicked in and the pilot sailed clear of the combat, watching from above as a spot of hope emerged from behind his friend.

* * *

In truth, Brevan was pissed. He took too long dispatching the first 'mech, having Alex finish it off in his _Stalker_. He knew the reinforcements were en-route and he wanted time to get into a better defensive position. The two initial responders were hopelessly outclassed though, and the _Dragonfire's_ right torso armor was withered away just enough to show the precious ammo bin casing behind it. Wasting no time, Brevan fired his SRM launcher and two medium lasers into the hole, successfully penetrating it with one of the lasers and two missiles. It was enough to accomplish what he wanted, and he turned his 'mech away to avoid the splash damage of near fifteen AC/10 cluster rounds igniting inside the _Dragonfire_, effectively turning it into a seventy-five ton fragmentation grenade.

The explosions were many and they were fierce. Cluster ammo fragments peppered the back of Brevan's 'mech, and the _Dragonfire's_ right side was near completely ripped from its center mass, spinning it around in place and jolting it in several directions randomly as each round coursed through its internal structure, sounding like popcorn in a metal tin.

After a few seconds, Brevan turned to finish the 'mech off if he needed to and noticed that it was attempting to limp away, slowly, completely ineffective to the battle anymore. But it's power failed and it halted after several steps. The site of it slumping over with masses of thick smoke pluming from its wounds, numerous in its front and rear armor, and slowly descend to the ground to produce an earth shaking 'thud', distracted him enough to miss the new blip on his radar, and the mistake cost him dearly.

An _Axman_ appeared from behind the building to his right in full jump, its hatchet raised behind it. By the time Brevan realized the severity of the situation, the thing landed, its hatchet making contact with his 'mech before the thing's feet hit the ground. It buried itself deeply into his right shoulder, instantly rendering his arm useless and violently shaking his machine as it was thrown about by the weight of the other 'mech landing.

The _Axman_ wasted no time and fired its AC20 off, point blank. The impact blew Brevan's _Banshee_ back with such a force that the hatchet was torn from its side as he toppled over. He nearly blacked out from the whiplash as his front torso's armor warped to conform to the shape of the round. The sound was deafening, and when he regained his senses, he realized just how vulnerable he did _not_ want to be.

* * *

Kirsa Lindemann's command lance took the field quick and instantly overran it. She was not about to have renegade mechwarriors get away with such wanton destruction. She moved with authority, and had her lance converge on the two targets in three of four directions, forcing them right into her sights.

Her _Battlemaster_ was primed and ready to go, and she watched her radar as the _Stalker_ maneuvered to defend its friend from the angry _Axman_. It was partially successful, using just enough ordinance to get its attention, and then charging it like a bull. The _Axman_ had to get out of the way to avoid the collision, giving the _Banshee_ enough time to get up and retreat. That is when Kirsa opened up with all of her medium lasers in an attempt to slap the 'mech in the side and expose it to the rest of her lance.

But, to her surprise, the _Stalker_ did not turn and follow the _Banshee_, instead opting to entrench itself and open fire on the incoming _Warhammer_ while her previous target turned to greet her personally. Even with its right arm dangling like so much useless scrap metal and the giant wound to its front torso, it paused when it looked at her, just ever so slightly. The action was so unexpected that she rethought her firing strategy and went through her weapons selection again. That moment was apparently all it needed, as her world was thrown about when two PPC bolts snaked from its torso and hit her square in the center, one of which nailed her cockpit and sent the heat levels inside through the roof.

Temporarily blinded from the bolt's impact to her cockpit's shield, her sensors lit up and a small fire started to her right as the direct impact of a particle bolt forced current irregularities within her computers. Instinctually she backed up, waiting for her eyesight to focus again, it dimming and brightening as her pupils struggled to operate. Then her lancemates started coordinating over the comm, _"Three, this is two! That Stalker has me pinned down. I need some cover fire to the right!"_

"_No dice Two. That Banshee--"_ the jolting sound of weapons impact interrupted his speech, _"Fuck! He's all over me! I can't get out of this alley!"_

"_Don't worry man, I gotcha…"_ The _Axman_ opened fire to help the trapped _Awesome_ out of the _Banshee's_ line of fire.

She was happy they were coordinating so well. But they needed to take care of these guys quick. They already dispatched two Lyran heavies like they were paper targets, survived the first wave of her lance, and now were fighting to get the initiative back. She couldn't allow that to happen. But just as her vision re-focused, Thames hit her on the comm, _"Lt. Lindemann, we have two of the terrorists leaving the research building now. I want you to intercept them."_

"Negative command. I have my ground troops to deal with that. We have these 'mechs to deal with over here." She tried to get a firing solution working when the _Stalker_ she was tracking moved behind another building, blocking her shot.

"_Your ground troops will not make it in time to catch them in the open, and the Atlases are not in range yet. I want those two detained NOW. If those pilots are killed in their 'mechs, then we have nothing to go on. Disengage and apprehend, that is an order."_

She throttled her 'mech forward and back into combat. After a second of thought, she simply muted his comm channel, not wanting to hear any more of his crap. He already oversaw one of the worst security failures imaginable to the only command base under his control, and she was going to rectify it without getting shot in the back to catch some ground runners. She did, however, have a plan in place for that. "Maxwell, what is your status? We have runners heading from the research center."

"_We heard. I have an ETA of one minute to the target building. Sorry, we had a vehicle hiccup outside the armory."_

The frustration was thick in her voice, "No excuses. I want those men alive."

"_Copy that."_

* * *

Brevan had finally successfully split the _Warhammer_ from its friends for Alex to deal with alone. He just had to gain some momentum in this fight _quick_ if he wanted to survive. The only way to do that however, was to disregard all of the doctrine he was taught as a clan warrior, and pull out all the stops. It was not his honor at stake here; it was the lives of everyone in the Occupation Zone, and maybe the Inner Sphere itself. That info needed to get off planet, period. So when he charged toward the _Awesome_ in front of him, he kept the location of the _Axman_ in his peripheral vision. It looked like it was going to wait beside a large parking structure and charge out behind him when he was about to pass, pinching him between the two. It was a good plan, if he didn't anticipate it.

Upon approaching the parking structure, he opened up with his gauss rifle and medium lasers to keep the _Awesome_ busy and look distracted. The _Axman_ appeared right when he thought it would, and fired with its AC20 in an attempt to throw Brevan off balance. But he quickly turned to his right, forcing the round to graze his right arm, which was useless anyway, and rode the momentum in his new direction while twisting his machine back to the left. Right when the torso twist was done, his right shoulder slammed into the _Axman_ so hard that he sent the thing back into the parking structure and through the outer walls. It fell hard, breaking every level's worth of asphalt and concrete in a path straight for the ground.

Amazed that he was able to keep his balance during the charging run while twisting his torso like so, he then moved to where the _Axman_ was, from the view of its lancemate and watched as the heavy 'mech finally hit the ground level. Over a hundred tons of concrete and rebar made their way to the _Axman_, crushing parts of it and completely covering the rest. A giant dust cloud started to form, obscuring the _Awesome_ from his view entirely as the ground gave way and the _Axman_ fell into the basement of the structure.

The second thunderous impact of the hatchet wielding 'mech forced the ground to tremor and the rest of the complex to fall in on itself. Nothing was left of the 'mech after the final collapse, burying the pilot under several meters of rubble.

With the initiative in his hands, Brevan went to work on the _Awesome_, using his superior placement to pick it apart from across the impassible crater. The _Atlases _were nearly in range, as they sent some long-range missile volleys over to let him know. None of them hit, but he knew this was going to be too hot for him in a minute, so he increased the ferocity of his assault accordingly.

* * *

Kirsa was trying to trap the _Stalker_ between her 'mech and the _Warhammer_, but it kept itself out of harm's way for the most part. Luckily, since it was maneuvering, it couldn't return fire too well, though it was taxing her patience.

"_Commander,"_ Maxwell tried to raise her on the comm.

"Go ahead."

"_We entered the target building and swept it top to bottom."_

"And?"

"_Well, they're not here. Maybe Thames was wrong?"_

She groaned internally. "Keep looking and update him when you get the chance."

"_Copy that. Out."_

She took the moment to look over at her lancemate in the _Awesome_ to notice it was taking an absurd amount of fire from the _Banshee_, but was not returning any. "Stalls! Is there a reason you're not shooting at him?"

"_He scored some engine hits right away. My heat sinks can barely keep me upright! That bastard knows every chink in my armor--!"_ A chest impact blew the 'mech into the wall of a nearby building and she heard it through the comm while witnessing it in the distance. He was in a bad spot and the _Banshee _was not letting up. _"Shit! I think it's going critical--!"_

Right then the _Awesome_ fell over while the ejection seat kicked in. The 'mech hit the corner of the building it was next to on the way down, chipping construction material off of it and re-directing the 'mech's fall to the street below. The sound of the collisions synchronized with the impact, as the street cracked and splintered up and down to compensate for the weight of the _Awesome_ slamming into it. She couldn't believe it, but the _Banshee_ that she thought was out of the battle the moment she hit it from behind earlier took half of her lance out single handedly and was now, again, coming for her.

The _Stalker _did significant damage to her fellow _Warhammer_ while she turned to face the enraged _Banshee_, but then turned and ran for the outer wall to the base. The _Atlases _were in range and opening up on the _Stalker _from behind, but nothing was putting it down yet. She honestly hadn't thought of _why_ these two men hi-jacked these 'mechs in the middle of a secured base. They couldn't have known about her lance coming in for support, but they still had to have balls to think they could nail the two heavies and the _Atlases_ stationed outside by themselves. She tried to reason it out but her thoughts were interrupted by Sergeant Maxwell in the building housing the supposed escapees.

"_Kirsa! We've been had!"_

"What? Report."

"_We checked the basement again and found that they booby trapped the sewer access port. I have two men down, but they'll live."_

"So they got away?"

"_Afraid so. I sent a team after them, but they can't see them from inside. They got a good head start."_

"Where does that tunnel lead?"

"_Honestly, I have no idea."_

Then it dawned on her, unraveling at once. "Son of a bitch…"

She turned to take the _Stalker_ down before it could escape when the _Banshee_ got her from behind. One hit, then another, then another, then two at once. Her rear armor on the left side went red in her damage readout and if she didn't turn to face him, she was going to be toast. She simply yelled at the pilots in the _Atlases_ to finish what she started, "_Atlas_ pilots, take that _Stalker _out now!"

The _Banshee_ pressed the charge after she turned, stopping its fire briefly to let itself cool down. All the momentum of combat threw her off though, as she assessed her machine. The initial attack by the _Banshee_ earlier knocked one of her medium lasers out in her torso, but the last attack heated her front up so much that two medium laser barrels were warped, probably from the last PPC hit to her left. She knew what the damage report meant, and that firing those lasers would either result in their aim being off for the first two shots, or possibly deflected back into some part of her machine that she didn't want. She turned the controls for those weapons off to take them out of the equation altogether and noticed the _Banshee_ aiming lower now, probably gearing up for another attack. With her right leg in near critical condition from the last of the _Stalker's_ missile attack, she needed to protect it, and did so by sidestepping between two buildings and impeding his line of sight.

Turning just enough, she noticed the _Warhammer_ pumping everything it had into the rear of the _Stalker _and then witnessed exactly what she feared.

* * *

Thao actually had to struggle to get the pain of his leg out of his mind. He had been running on it for the half a kilometer it seemed and now was climbing the access ladder to open the surface panel of the sewer tunnel way. He and Tyler made it across the opening thanks to Brevan's distraction, and managed to set up a quick booby trap on the safe side of the tunnel door after navigating through the building next to the research center.

Gennis couldn't get his buggy too close to the building however, as extra piping worked along the bottom of the tunnel and made it impassible to the wide base of the vehicle. So he had to wait a hundred and fifty meters away and signal for them when they hit the tunnel.

Once in, they contacted Brevan who told Alex to head out immediately. They were still alive, somehow, and Thao planned on rewarding them later. They drove to the nearest ground panel and had Alex eject over the security wall of the compound in their direction. He landed near three hundred meters away, but still had two healthy legs and enough adrenaline pumping through his system to burrow through a mountain if need be. When Thao opened the panel, he only had to wait another fifteen seconds or so for Alex to make it over and down the ladder into the buggy below. Brevan was getting held up however, and was slightly behind him.

Thao saw from this distance the _Banshee_ as it made its way past some tall structures. It opened fire with all of its small lasers at the corner of the lead one, blowing concrete shards all over the place, probably to keep that _Battlemaster _at bay as he passed. Thao did not know how much rear armor he had left on that thing, but started to worry because those _Atlases_ were closing ranks fast. This far into the battle, which was really only three minutes long at this point, and they were still lumbering their way over there. They had a real tough area near the front to work through, and Thao was happy they didn't factor into the battle until now.

Brevan must've avoided the automatic shutdown, because his 'mech was steaming and near every barrel save the gauss rifle was smoking. He made his way within a hundred meters of the far wall, firing the medium lasers mounted on his rear torso back in an effort to throw people off behind him.

He nearly made it, surviving one of the most lopsided situations he had ever seen in favor of the enemy when the _Battlemaster_ appeared on the _other_ side of the buildings Brevan shot at moments ago. His medium lasers were firing in the wrong direction, and it had time to level its Gauss Rifle and aim. That is when the lump formed in his throat, and the _Banshee_ slowed and began to tilt to aim its ejection trajectory over the wall.

He watched the front of the cockpit, expecting it to disengage from its housing and launch over the flat between him and the base. But to his horror, instead of ejecting, it violently exploded as a gauss round found its way through, instantly leaving a gaping hole and a bloody mess.

The sound was eerily muffled and quiet as the _Banshee _just stopped in its tracks, like someone pausing a holo-vid. For the first time since the explosion in the research center, all was quiet. Brevan's 'mech just stood there, now a ninety-five ton tomb for the best mechwarrior he ever knew. The smoking remains of at least four 'mechs a testament to his abilities, and his drive as a warrior. But this was not honorable combat, and he would not be remembered.

"Thao! What happened?!" Tyler shouted from below, now sitting in the buggy waiting for him to get Brevan and close the hole up. It was a far echo from the void forming in his mind, but it was enough to snap him back to reality.

He took one more moment to stare at the steaming monument meters from escape. And then, with a heavy heart, he closed the hatch, slid down the ladder into the buggy, and ordered Gennis to get the hell out of there.

Gennis hit the gas and they were off. Not a word was said among them. Thao, coming to grips with the mission and his responsibility to his men lashed out and drove his fist into one of the side panels inside the buggy. He kept hitting it until it folded inward, then watched the blood seep from his knuckles. For some sadistic reason known only to a well-trained psychologist, he enjoyed the pain. Then he sat back, and enjoyed the fact that none of them had anything to add. The rest of the trip was silent and he finally entertained the thought that none of them may get off this planet alive.

* * *

Pain. A sliver of light shot across his field of vision and widened to form a world devoid of color and sound. It was a sky, with ominous, leafless branches reaching upward like dying men calling to a deaf god. Then his body shocked itself to life, his head rising from the ground enough to send surges of pain down his spine and back into his head. Waves of it washed over his brain, and he tried to scream, but couldn't.

His mouth was dryer than an oven, having been open for who knows how long. It hurt to close it, like he would crack his cheeks in half if he forced his lips together, but he did it anyway.

His head dropped again, resting on the cold ground as the world slowly formed colors. And he felt something, not entirely physical, but definitely there. He felt an eye on him, and he struggled, but somehow managed to force his head to the left to see a corpse leaning against a bulldozer tread. The man's face was distorted, having one eye gouged out and a trail of black blood dried down its cheek to mix with more blood from its mouth and nostrils. It's throat was a mess, having glass shards sticking out of it and raggedy pieces of flesh dangle, still dripping the sickening blood onto its soaked shirt. It was horrific, but peaceful in a twisted way. It was a warrior of some kind, some great being leveled to useless flesh. Its posture told of defiance, but its life was in a puddle all around it.

Then it hit him, the memories of a struggle, a fight to the death. The taste of sweat and the sting of blades… Then it was gone. _What was that,_ he thought? _Was that me? Or him? Who did the dying…?_

He moved his head back to look up again when another flash hit him, like a broken holo-vid struggling to finish a movie scene. He felt the thick warmth of a punctured eye on his thumb, and his field of vision move to the forest, watching a woman limp away before returning to that enraged death machine…

And it suddenly started making sense. _Ashley…_ he thought. He remembered getting her out of the area. He remembered fighting that brute to the death, and unleashing the virus to kill it after everything else failed. He remembered this whole trip, his hike to the woods, the battle with the motorcycles, and the engine room on an enemy spacecraft. He remembered getting hit in the head, and so many people worrying about him when he woke up. _What were they worried about,_ he wondered? Was he out? He was out. He had that dream. The one with the white face—

And his blood ran cold. For the first time since he could remember, he was afraid. He didn't know if it was his condition or his fear that paralyzed him, but he heard himself breathe, and some primal part told him he shouldn't be. That this was all wrong.

He thought it was just his numbness, but he couldn't help but think about that cold lump in his right hand. Was there really a lump, or was his brain just trying to toy with him, make him more afraid? He squeezed, and felt something inside of it.

He had to look, he needed to look. He tried his hardest to find every reason not to, but his head fell to its right, like his body wanted to torment him more than his mind already tried to, and he saw her.

Ashley lied next to him on her back, eyes closed and peaceful, perfectly still with her hand inside of his. He tried so hard to call her name, his throat crackling with the dryness and burning with the effort. Some semblance of a voice found its way out, though he couldn't pronounce any words. But now, he didn't care if it was his mind or his body that was prohibiting him from simple speech. He just wanted her to wake up.

"_Aaaaaaashhh…"_

He couldn't hold much air. So he tried squeezing her hand, but there was no response. He decided then and there that he had enough. He willed his body to respond and sat up, using his anger at his new found dizziness to fuel him further. He noticed the eight-part syringe he took from the lab at Gennis' base camp stuck in his leg, every compartment empty. She must've returned and stuck him with it, knowing full well that there was only enough in it for one of them.

Looking around, he also noticed the foam in his arm and probably in his back as well. The sealant used in the field to seal deep cuts and stimulate platelet productivity. In his final moments he thought he heard her voice calling for him, and little did he know it then: it was her voice. _But why…_he wondered? He tried to remember it, such a tender sound.

He sat up and willed his legs to work, scooting back and getting closer to Ashley. Her face was so beautiful, and she looked so peaceful. How could anything die of such a wretched disease and still retain such a natural purity?

He reached down, cursing the fact that he still lacked much feeling in his hands, and touched her face. He caressed the side of her cheek and forced the moment into his head so that he would remember it forever. He was entirely willing to sacrifice his life for hers, but it was she who came back for him. He felt horrible, but proud at the same time. It was very confusing, but the deadened part of him finally took over, and his mind overrode his emotions to return him to the natural state of things. It was the only way to continue.

He took the nearest knife he could find and cut a small strip of skin from inside her wrist, trying his best to not disturb her body. After pocketing the piece, he bent low so his mouth was near her ear, and almost said something. It was on the tip of his soul, but it never came out.

Eventually, after an awkward pause, he realized that he would be speaking to a lifeless body, and that he had to get moving. The world would not stop for him and his drama. He was Julian Buhallin of the Jade Falcon Watch, and he had a job to do.

* * *

Lex Barret made his way down the hillside to find out that the caleb herd was moving north, away from him. Like some bad comedy, he had to follow them, and could barley keep up. Not only was he not in the greatest shape, but he never really hiked before, and he had a rifle slung over his shoulder that he never fired before. This was _not_ how he wanted things to go down, some failure on his part to shoot an unintelligent animal to save the world.

Over a kilometer later, the herd stopped to graze in another field. He barely made it in time before the lead one got bored and wanted to move again. He tried setting his rifle up from the tree-line, but realized that his aim was crap and that he wouldn't be able to hit his target from that distance.

So he moved closer, and finally realized just how large these animals were. He knew then that he had to search out a younger one just so he could carry it back to the vehicle. But it had to be old enough to have developed its immune system. He cursed inside his head and got too close for comfort before finding one to his liking.

At this point, he found himself just meters away from the herd itself, but within acceptable distance to take aim and shoot the poor animal down. After double checking the chamber to make sure the dart was loaded properly and the safety was off, he took his aim, and breathed a few times. He hasn't fired a gun in years, the fundamentals lost to him through lack of practice. But he remembered something about holding your breath…

SPAT! The dart hit the small caleb in its right side, and it stopped grazing to look at him like he called its name or something. Then it's eyes crossed and it fell to the ground with a thud that didn't even alert the calebs around it. He tried to scare them off so he could bag his prize, but they weren't paying any attention to him. They just continued eating like nothing was going on.

He moved through the herd over to the one he shot down, effectively slipping in a pile of excrement and landing in between two fairly large calebs that did not appreciate him disturbing their feeding. Getting up, he finished closing the distance and finally enveloped the small caleb in his carrying bag and hoisted the weight over his shoulder. _This is going to be one hell of a trip back,_ he thought as he struggled just to carry the thing back to the tree line. The herd just continued eating and he could care less at this point.

* * *

Lex made his way back to the hill that he started from, struggling most of the way until parts of him started to numb out, making the final quarter kilometer the easiest. He worked his way up the hill, taking only a single break on the way up before hitting the crest and the flat, mini-plateau afterwards. It was there that he saw a man who looked like he lost a fight with a chain saw sitting on a rock, waiting for him.

"Oh! Jeeze!" He had to catch his breath now from the hill _and_ the sight of Julian, in all his bloody glory. "It's you."

He worked his way closer to Julian, and could not be happier to finally set the unconscious caleb down and rest. "Where's Harley?"

Julian didn't reply.

Lex was intelligent, he figured it all out fairly quickly, "She's not coming back, is she?

Julian, probably having to actually say the words himself in lieu of a simple reply, answered him, "No. She's not coming back."

Lex knew better than to ask what happened, and hoped that she was as genuine as he thought she was, because he was stuck with this train wreck of a man and knew that they had the same agenda. She did save his life before, so maybe that justified it in his mind.

Julian turned his head and looked at the bag. "Is that it?"

"Yeah. I couldn't lift one of the larger ones, but this'll do."

Julian just stood up in response, his uniform in tatters and the dried blood covering his skin like old pain. Despite his apparel, he stood tall, with good posture. "Let's go."

Lex was going to ask for a moment to catch his breath, but thought better of refusing a man that looked like that. He picked the caleb up and fell in behind him. "Look, I need a lab and some equipment that's kind of hard to find. I take it you understand all that?"

Julian didn't even so much as turn around, "We have all you need."

"Really? You and her you mean?"

Then Julian paused and almost responded, but instead continued down the hillside. Lex decided to catch himself up on the situation. "Harley isn't her real name, is it?"

Julian kept walking, not even putting forth the effort to answer. It was apparent that this man was caging a lot.

"You loved her, didn't you?"

Then he stopped dead in his tracks, his arms limp beside him and his eyes staring deep into the distance ahead. A long pause ensued, building tension in Lex's mind as a simple yes or no would have done, and he realized how wrong it probably was to ask such a question after imagining what happened down at the mining facility. No one walks away from that looking like he did without some kind of baggage. He suddenly felt horrible for being so blunt, and wished Julian would respond soon, with anything.

Finally, he got his wish. "I don't know what you're talking about," was all he heard before Julian continued on toward the vehicle.

It was good enough for Lex, but he soon thought about it and realized just how long this trip could actually be.

* * *

The clean up crew in the Lyran outpost was not too concerned with getting the 'mechs up and out of the streets for some reason. They more or less continued on with packing their things up and shipping them off to the star port. Kirsa Lindemann struggled to figure out why this wasn't being immediately taken care of, as several assault 'mech corpses lying around in main travel lanes was usually cause for some kind of clean up action.

She did find the responders the moment they arrived however after sending her 'mech back for repairs. She had the on-site crew set up scaling ropes over the chassis of the _Banshee_ so she could climb in there and search out the cockpit herself. She grew more and more distrustful of Colonel Thames and the way he ran this place, and she wanted dibs on the man she rightfully stopped from escaping.

As she climbed the rope along the front surface of the 'mech, she noticed the breeze pick up like it normally does when one hits higher elevations. It doesn't take a lot, and her boots didn't grip the metal like she had hoped at every spot, but she managed and finally reached the gaping hole she left in the cockpit.

The problem with gauss slugs is that they move at such a high velocity that when they punch through something enclosed, like a cockpit, they form a small vacuum behind themselves, sucking everything not strapped down in the cabin itself out behind the slug and creating one hell of a mess for the repair crews. In this case, some of the computer peripherals and most of the pilot itself accompanied the slug after its passing, leaving his legs and the pelvic area in place. It was very gory, and she really hated to see such a fine warrior die such an undignified death.

She had no clue how much damage the _Banshee_ itself took before she finally stopped it, but it was a miracle it was still on its feet when it was. Almost all the armor was gone, a quarter of its heat sinks were damaged, and several moyomers were severed throughout the machine. It had functioning parts in just the right spots to accomplish what it did, like all the ammo pumped into it magically sidestepped the critical components. Of course, after seeing how well the pilot himself performed, she attributed its survival more to his skill than the luck of the draw. Had he survived, she would have bought him a drink before his imprisonment. But such was not the case.

The surrounding cockpit was nothing special. The pilot's head and accompanying neural helmet were sucked out of the cockpit after the gauss slug, so she could not figure out he managed to pilot the thing so well despite never being tuned to it, along with how he started the thing in the first place. There was no doubt in her mind that he was Special Forces for some House Lord, because no pirate or local terrorist could pull off what occurred. The amount of synchronization between the two renegade 'mechs and the escaping men from the research center suggested a high degree of military training. The escape through the sewer system was ingenious, especially since they blew parts of the tunnel in upon itself to cover their tracks and stall any pursuers.

So here she was, so many questions and too little answers. In fact, nothing has been answered about these guys other than some of them did make it out of here alive. The uniform itself was of no help, being stolen from Lyran guards earlier that day.

She looked all over the place: in all the storage compartments, access panels, under the seat itself, and eventually, in the pants themselves. Blood from the severed torso drenched the upper pockets, which made it difficult for her to search, but the cargo pockets were fine. And therein she found her prize. A single data disc, recently burned and tucked away for safe keeping it looks like.

"Find anything up there?" A voice from below reached her ears as several people looked on to see what she was doing, though she was inside the cockpit compartment itself and not entirely within the view of those around.

She quickly pocketed the disc and used her gut instinct on this one. Something about Thames was hitting her the wrong way, and it was not just his attitude. She wanted to know what was going on, and didn't think she would get it from him. So maybe she would get it from this guy, the pilot that made a fool of both the Lyran Guard detail and her best men.

She said a silent prayer for the fallen pilot and made her way down the ropes to the ground again. As far as everyone was concerned, searching the 'mech for clues was a waste of time.

* * *

Apparently security was not an issue in the supply routes between the star port and the southwestern Danner depots. Gregors had enough of trying to elude security in the Lyran compound and gave up attempting to juice information from a hot zone. The 'mech combat in the main compound sent security teams into a frenzy as the explosions and smoke clouds were close enough to shock the eyes and sting the nostrils.

Since the area was becoming way too hot, and he feared his luck would run out further avoiding the other covert ops team, he decided to move to the civilian sector and find out if shifting gears would provide any momentum for him. Supplies were still inbound from the civilian depots, with the Lyrans patrolling the routes and outer perimeter themselves.

He took his two men and had them help secure some of the loading trucks heading back to the warehouses to empty them out into the star port loading docks. It was near seven hours since the fight at the complex, but at least heard that Thao and company were out alive. For one reason or another, which he chalked up to the LAAF having way too many bases to cover, their radios still worked, though no words were to be said over the waves until the new development found pay dirt.

The people at the depots were happy for the help, and it made it much easier for him to move about. It looks like they've been worked to the bone to hit their deadlines, of which Gregors still had no definitive idea. No one knew more than they were told, and information was on an extreme shortage as of late.

In a transport, he sat next to Weston and Hicks as it moved down the winding road back to the dimly lit complex just over a kilometer away. Lights flashed from within the city proper, as the flashes illuminated the low clouds and made the world seem to shrink with every passing minute. Apparently things were getting rough within Danner and the LAAF troops were trying to pull their resources out before it was all overran by rioters. _What a mess that turned into,_ he thought.

Some of the civilians were accompanying his men back, as all the manpower was working together regardless of company or rank. But it was quiet, and they were tired.

Lightning from the storm temporarily lit the landscape, unveiling some empty fields, the hills behind them, and allowing him to survey the warehouse compound ahead. There was nothing he could visually grasp to maintain interest however, and he quickly stared forward again, bored.

One of the guys he was with, Freddy, actually grew up on Kenton. He was assigned by PSI to help the incoming assistance when everything happened. He kept staring out the opening in the overhead tarp when after a second lightning flash he spoke up, "Huh. I never would have noticed. Hey Deuce, what's up with that?"

Deuce, a 320 man pristinely adept at lifting large objects, making him the prize of this loading team took a seat next to Freddy and looked out the opening, "What, the terraformer?"

"Yeah. Have you ever seen that thing move before?"

Gregors, intrigued by this more than the scenery passing by on the other side, turned to look at the towering structure in the distance. It was a massive station with a giant beam revolving around a center turntable. He guessed it had air jets at the ends of the beam, but was really unfamiliar with terraformer technology. Especially tech that was over 200 years old.

"You know, now that you mention it, no." Then Deuce sat back down, not really interested to begin with but just enough to dedicate some attention. "Not in the last few years anyway. I used to fish up there in the summer, never seen it move before."

Freddy just sat back, mentally exhausted and shaking his head in defeat, "This place has really gone to hell the last month. I can't wait to leave."

"Well, hold that thought," Deuce said as the vehicle slowed, "because we're going to be on our feet again any moment."

Gregors turned his head to realize that they had approached the outer perimeter of the warehouse compound. Security was just flagging the vehicles in now since there were so many. He could tell instantly that Lyran security here would be light.

* * *

Julian and Lex made their way from the mining compound in the northern peninsula back to Danner in near record time, ignoring any speed limits and just about everything else. On Kenton, that kind of stuff wasn't really monitored anyway, and a good vehicle could shrink a distance like that in no time.

The cloud cover didn't hide its intentions, as it started to rain lightly as they made their way toward the lights of the city. Night befell them and made navigating all that much more difficult.

Inside the vehicle however, it was dead quiet, and time was not moving with any sense of urgency. They were near approaching Danner when Lex finally spoke up, trying to get his mind off of everything he _didn't_ see back there.

"So, what is your name?"

Julian hadn't spoke since he got in the vehicle, just pointing out directions occasionally. Finally, he replied, "Robert, Robert Grayson."

"Oh, now that _has_ to be a fake name."

"It is. I don't give out my real name."

Lex thought about that for a moment, then replied, "Ever? Do your parents even call you by your real name then?"

Julian almost raised an eyebrow while thinking of how absurd that response was, but it really didn't matter in the grand scope of things.

After another few long minutes of silence Julian pointed to the left up ahead, "Hang a left, go around this."

"Around what?" Lex turned left anyway and eventually worked his way back around in the direction he was heading in originally, just for the sake of argument. After a few blocks, he noticed crowds of people to his right blocking the roads off. It looked like a mob or something. "So tell me, how does a guy go through whatever you went through and still manage to see that kind of stuff from that far away?"

Julian didn't even so much as turn his head when he spoke, but continued to survey the openings to his right, then returned his gaze forward casually. "I've been juiced."

"You mean drugs?"

Julian didn't reply.

"Must've been some good stuff. Is that standard practice to pump yourself up before combat?"

"Stuff saved my life."

The crowd to the right started to spill over into the streets ahead of their vehicle, leaving nowhere to turn to avoid getting stuck. The left was barricaded off and the right was thick with abandoned vehicles and burning piles of garbage. Eventually, they had to slow down to avoid rolling over a few dozen people.

"Ah, what the hell?" Lex was obviously distressed, and Julian, despite his limited timetable, just responded casually.

"Riots. They've been getting worse in the inner city. Looks like they finally spilled over."

"Well, we don't have time for this crap." Lex started honking the horn and trying to maneuver through them, but it was hopeless. They eventually crowded the vehicle and continued moving forward down the street. More appeared behind them as the street flowed toward the gates to the Lyran military outpost in Danner. Some wrecking crews were up front and several large vehicles made their way in from the sides, maybe to act as battering rams. It did not look good.

Lex opened his window and asked the nearest person what was going on.

"We're taking the Lyrans down! They released that crap in the east bloc and are pulling their people out of the city. They're going to kill all of us if we don't get them first!"

Lex couldn't reply before the man ran ahead of them shouting with the rest of the crowd. He turned to Julian with a face white with worry, "My family is in there."

"What? What are they doing in _there?_"

"I left them to Thames for safe-keeping."

Julian just shook his head in disapproval, but said nothing. He knew nothing good could come of this. Eventually he spoke up, "They can hold their own in there. We need to keep moving."

"What? That is my FAMILY! My wife and daughter. Look, I need to get them."

"Don't get hasty now--" But Lex was already exiting the vehicle.

"I can't leave them! You may not have a family, but…" He gave up on finding words and shut the door behind him before running into the mess, fully committing to his decision to get his family out from that mess. He shouted back at Julian, "Watch the stuff! I'll be back!"

"Don't--! Aww, _fuck_." _Could this day get any worse,_ he asked himself? But his answer came all too soon, as someone from behind smashed the window to the vehicle open and started looting the rear with a friend.

"Hey! What do you two think--" That is when one of them grabbed the bag containing the caleb they fought so hard for and took off. Anger slowly crept up from inside him, as he refused to let his world fall apart again. But it was short lived as several more approached and smashed more of the windows in, one of them attempting to get behind the wheel and jack the vehicle altogether.

Julian just pinched the bridge of his nose and inhaled deeply, preparing to rectify this situation with extreme prejudice.

* * *

Lex ran like the wind, which meant he lost his pretty quickly. He had to slow to a jog before long due to his physical shape and found himself almost lost in the mob itself. People all over were shouting at the gates to the Lyran compound. Some had Molotov cocktails, others had baseball bats. Others still, had assault rifles and hunting camouflage on. The crowd had to have been over two hundred people by now, and growing. The rain did not slow them down at all, but probably fueled them somehow, making the ground sparkle with the puddles and soaking all of them equally, like the army they truly were.

But right when he thought he had a bearing on the situation, a _Chimera_ and a _Lynx_ showed up help subdue the crowd. Their presence was amazing when looking up at them from inside the crowd itself, but for some reason, these people were not afraid. And they should have been.

One of the large construction vehicles rammed the leg of the _Chimera_ hard, and then the people started to swarm it, sending it in small circles and inflicting injury just by it's moving feet. A few of the people opened fire on the 'mech and managed to hit its cockpit, though the rounds were way too small to penetrate. It responded in kind and opened up with its own machine gun, chewing that portion of the crowd to pieces and scattering most of them.

But it only seemed to enrage the majority more, as some flaming cocktails landed on the accompanying _Lynx_ and set parts of it on fire. The light rain made short work of the fire, resulting in the armor itself steaming from the heat, creating one hell of a spectacle. It backpedaled and discharged some of its lasers into the crowd in defense, searing some people in half and making a real mess. This was getting out of hand way too fast.

But it was the charges that officially set it off. A few people managed to get close enough to the _Lynx_ as it was defending itself and planted several charges on its foot, blowing the joint to crap and sending it over. The explosions alone were nasty, but the 'mech landed on some more people, upsetting the crowd even more. They instantly swarmed the 'mech and started tearing at the cockpit, planting more explosives and eventually tearing the pilot from his seat and enveloping him altogether.

It was then that the _Chimera_ was in full defensive mode, knowing that its presence alone would not subdue the crowd. It opened fire on the vehicles, firing its MRMs at the front targets and sending hollow, fiery chassis barreling into the air to land with ear splitting screeches. The explosions themselves lit up the streets in eerie, strobe-like sequences, illuminating the chaos and enveloping it in darkness again. The gates opened slightly to expose Lyran infantry as it opened fire on the crowd with tear gas, and then exited the facility with some riot shields and riflemen behind.

The crowd had lost any sense of mortality however, and charge the guards, resulting in a brawl in front of the gate while the _Chimera_ shot people down with brutal efficiency.

Lex just tried to veer left to avoid the ensuing bloodbath and find a way into the base that did not require being bulletproof. Upon running, someone knocked into him and forced him off balance. He hit the ground rather hard, but was determined to get up and not miss stride. It was when his head was turned around that he saw a man running with a bag identical to the one he stored the caleb in running to his side. He squinted to identify it, trying dearly to deny in his mind that it was his bag, but saw that the bulge inside was indeed exactly what his had been.

He crawled a little bit back, much to his chagrin, to see the vehicle he left moments ago. Trying to see it through all the people, he got little pictures of parts of it, and it didn't look like it fared too well. His brain had trouble piecing the visual puzzle together, but luckily, another moment later, he got a clear view of the area and cursed out loud.

The SUV had all its windows smashed out, at least two flat tires, two dead bodies strewn across both the hood and behind the steering wheel, and, worst of all, no bloody, druggie soldier with a fake name.

Standing up, he knew he had to get that bag back. Without it, he couldn't get the cure. But his family was going to be in the middle of a maelstrom soon enough, and the thought of his daughter hurt at the hands of some enraged man made his blood boil.

Then his head kicked in and told him that if he got his family and not the bag, then they would die anyway. He hated himself for having to choose, but he turned in the direction of the man with his bag and ran after him, screaming from the bottom of his soul and the top of his lungs.

* * *

Julian made quick work of the men trying to jack the vehicle. They probably realized quickly that not only was the thing useless after they were through with it, but that madman in the passenger seat killed two of them with his bare hands without ever saying a word and would finish the rest of them off if they didn't get the hell out of there.

He was determined to find the asshole that ran off with the carrier, though he had no clue why anyone would grab a random fifty-kilo bag and run off with it without knowing what it was. People were ever so stupid in these situations, and the sight of the 'mech slaughtering them in the distance disturbed him none.

After scaling a building, he found the vantage point he needed to survey the area and get a bead on the runner. He searched quickly, his eyes taking everything in from a wide perspective and them zooming in on the segments that stood out. A man with a flaming bottle over there, three guys with matching shirts leading a charge over here, and for some reason, two people standing between some buildings, afraid to enter the street and entirely out of place. He imagined people who did not have some pointless homicidal rage overriding their thoughts would want to be left out of the ensuing violence, but so far, he realized that all of them left the area or sought shelter a while ago. All that was left were the crazies.

He kept searching, and his eyes came back to the two huddled together, a black woman and her child. He thought it was impossible, but he studied the child, and somehow recognized her eyes.

Knowing better than to deviate from his previous objective, he hit the street again and headed for the frightened pair with just one question on his mind, against his better judgment.

* * *

Lex was running like a pro football player, hurdling people and dodging street lamps, spinning through small crowds, and barreling through frantic pedestrians. His vision narrowed and showed only the man with the bag, running from him in the distance, a visual picture of him appearing every few seconds between the horde of bodies between them. It took him a while, but his adrenaline won the day, along with a lighter load, and he caught up with the man with the bag. Without losing stride, he hurdled the last of the people fallen in front of him and shoulder rammed the man from behind, sending him over his front foot and straight into the ground. Water was sent flying from the man's hair as his head snapped back, and Lex wiped the rain from his forehead to help his vision as he loomed over the prone man.

He immediately studied the bag and found the PSI tag on it telling him it was standard issue from the Danner Research Facility. Enraged, he kicked the man over and stared into his eyes. After a moment of pause, someone punched him in the head from the right and sent him a few steps away, temporarily disorienting him. When he came to, he saw another man with a pistol helping the thief up and asking him if he was all right. Apparently they were friends.

Lex just muscled his way over to the man with the gun and kicked him in the crotch, then punched him down to the ground. He grabbed his gun and pointed it at the man with the bag now trying to escape. The world around them, so full of chaos, seemed to quiet down and disappear as this little drama unfolded. He shouted at the man and fired a round into the air.

Frightened, the man turned around and looked at Lex, shocked that he managed to take out his friend and now had his gun aimed at him.

Lex's head turned into a blender of thoughts. Was he willing to kill this man for the cure? Would he have to? Did this man even know what he was doing? Did it matter if he knew? If he killed him, would he be as bad as Thames?

He tried to order the man down while sorting through his thoughts, "Put the bag down! Do it NOW! I will not hesitate to kill you for it!"

But the events of the day showed him something about purpose; the bloodied soldier in his vehicle and the woman that saved his life earlier. He knew they had killed before. He knew they didn't like it. He saw it in their eyes that they were victims of their own lives. And he knew, in the bottom of his soul, that if he was to go to hell for killing this man, that he would have done so saving everyone else from that disease. It was for the greater good. It was for his family.

The man gave him a look of defiance as his friend got up and tried to wrestle the gun from his hands. He managed to kick the man back down to find the bag thief running off again, figured a prize worth killing for is one worth stealing. And that is when Lex pulled the trigger, and the man's head was sent all over the street ahead of him, followed by the dead weight of his body. It was quick, and he fell instantly.

Shocked that he actually killed a man, Lex looked at the gun in his hands while the other man got up. He suddenly respected the fact that Lex was willing to fight for his prize and started to back off, though Lex wasn't done yet.

The anger of him being forced to kill another man, not forced like he was in the labs two days ago, but in the street, with a gun, violently and cold, manifested itself. He pointed the gun at the man's friend and stared at him with hatred in his eyes. He wanted nothing more than to wash his hands of this day, and for a split second, fell into a hole thinking that killing this other man would do just that.

"Daddy!"

The sound of a little girl froze his finger though, as his brain was shocked back into reality. At once the noise and visual awareness of the ocean of people all around overcame him and he was in the street again, watching the man he was going to kill run off in fear.

He knew that voice, and the reality of her seeing him murder someone turned his heart to stone. A weight in his chest formed as he dropped the gun and turned to look behind him. In the distance, through the now intensifying curtain of rain, he found Julian standing next to his wife and daughter, the man himself looking indifferent, Melissa relieved to see him, and Christine frozen in shock.

He ran to his daughter, who, after seeing him with the gun was hesitant, but let him embrace her. "I'm so sorry. Oh God, I'm so sorry honey. You weren't supposed to see that…" He lifted her up, who responded to his sincerity and hugged him back. Melissa approached him from behind and held him from the side, making the most unlikely Kodak moment in front of a bloodthirsty mob.

He tried to isolate himself from the world around and enjoy the moment when he heard a gun click. Julian picked the pistol up from the ground and checked the rounds in the magazine before pocketing it and patting down the dead caleb-thief.

Lex put Christine down and asked them what they were doing out here.

Melissa replied, "They kicked us out of the base earlier today. Out of nowhere, they just grabbed us and escorted us out."

"Thames!" He couldn't believe it. The man actually had them removed. But the more he thought about it, removing them was probably the best thing that could have happened, because when he looked back, he saw that the crowd had somehow managed to get inside the gates and started some small explosions in there while the Lyran battlemech made its way inside the complex to weed out the invaders. It was madness.

"We need to go." Julian was short and precise, like always.

Lex nodded and they followed the tattered soldier out of the crowd and through some previously destroyed parts of the city, leaving the sounds of war behind them.

* * *

Thao's crew didn't make it far after hitting the surface again in their buggy. So far they were not pursued, but most of the roads heading toward their base camp were impassible, with people coming out from all over in the rain to see the explosions in the distance. Word had it that the base in Danner was under siege from the locals, which was ironic since he just got done rearranging the main command post fifteen clicks behind him. It looked like the Lyran Occupation Force had a lot more on its hands than it planned on.

The display was impressive, with several explosions lighting up the sky at irregular intervals, reflecting off the low clouds and creating a very beautiful backdrop, despite the nature of it.

He checked his leg out during the trip, and realized that there was no way he could get his crew back to base-camp through the crowds.

Two Lyran helicopters passed them from behind with their searchlights on, probably looking for his vehicle. They continued over to the chaos in the distance however, making him second-guess himself.

He had Gennis contact the elementals at his HQ and tell them that they would make it back the next day; that their route was too hot. They needed to hunker down and wait it out, as he saw in the distance several light battlemechs working their way in his direction from the Lyran command post.

They abandoned the buggy and found some shelter in a mechanic's garage. It had a power source and a heater, which was enough for them to make a stay for the night.

Tyler was sent out to get a computer consol so they could hook in and try to make sense of the files on the disc Alex burned for them before their escape. It took over two hours, but he returned with enough equipment to set up a small computer consol and start manually searching the files.

They took turns sleeping while the ones awake looked through the stuff, some areas encoded and others not. They had the hardware to break the encryption system back at HQ, but not on them. It was fruitless in the end, but it got their mind off of their pursuers, who eventually stomped their way through the suburb looking for them.

Thao honestly wondered if they thought they would find his men that way, but Gennis told him that order needed to be restored if the Lyrans wanted to get anything done, and nothing establishes order like a few battlemechs.

He was right, and Thao was the only one who stayed up all night, pondering every aspect of this mission. There were way too many questions to answer, and for once, he was lost as to which ones to ask first.

* * *

Kirsa found her lead computer tech and pulled him aside from the rest of Thames' crew. Inside the main building, it was not easy finding a quiet corner to talk in, but she managed one somehow. "Ian, I need you to do something for me." She spoke low, so no one else could hear her.

"Yeah, what's up?"

She pulled the disc she retrieved from the destroyed _Banshee_ and held it up to him, "I need to find out what is on this disc. Those men pulled something from the research center and sacrificed some of their own to get this stuff out. I want to know what it is."

"I need a terminal and some time."

"Okay. Let's find you a terminal."

The room itself was not a computer room, but then again, it wasn't a terminal either. Ian knew how the building was set up, having watched the crews hook everything together. His personal computer equipment was still stored in the back of his transport vehicle, and he unloaded it and hooked it up to a main server line, tapping directly into the network with an ID number already in use, confusing the system. Surely the Lyran network administrator would see the new access and start rummaging through solutions, eventually sending a team out to see if anyone was really hacking the network, but he knew they couldn't locate him by his signal since it was all hard-lined. You had to love the simplicity of it all.

The disc read fine in his computer, but he didn't have the decryption codes. So he needed the Lyran network to sift through its databases to find them. It took him over an hour, and Kirsa was rushing him all the while. These things were really top of the line, and if he didn't have access to the Lyran servers, he would have needed a week to figure out the code and work out solutions. But once he got it, he waved her over and she eagerly bent close to read the screen.

"What is this?" she asked.

"It looks like a personnel database. But these aren't military…" Ian sifted through it a little and pulled up the directory. The names were broken up by age, sex, and another sequence of variables in a third category. He just didn't know what it all meant.

"Wait, go to that one." She directed him around a bit until she got into the file of one of the people. "Alice Huddle, sixty five years old, smoker. What the hell?"

"Hmm…" Ian went through the file more, looked at some labels in the third directory and pulled up new information. It included volumes of something, dosage intervals, times and symptoms. "What is all of this?"

"No…" Kirsa pushed him from the keypad and looked up another name. This one was a male child, age fifteen, and looked at his set of numbers. They were fairly different from Alice's. She read through some details and asked everyone what some of these confusing words meant. Eventually she read one off that Ian identified as a steroid.

They both looked at it and figured out that these were medical reports with timetables and analyses. At different times blood cell counts were taken and different steroids administered. Everything was recorded: heart rate, blood pressure, breathing, blood oxygen levels, and eventually, viral count.

"They used the virus on these people." Kirsa said it while her mind space out to comprehend it.

"No," Ian refused to believe it. But Kirsa scrolled over and showed him the 'ToD' slot at the end of the data. It stood for 'Time of Death', and had the actual time recorded and an accumulated time in parenthesis next to it. He grew silent and let her open the master file.

It had tons of charts and graphs, showing the different age groups and genders and their stats. They were all being compared, and the treatments administered were being followed and recorded. There must've been at least a hundred and twenty people in this section. All dead. All randomly selected and categorized.

There was one word document on the disc, and she opened it up and let the character decoder do its thing. After a few moments, the curser rolled through the document and transformed the illegible characters into readable text.

_**To: Operational Command**_

_**From: Jeffrey Thames, Colonel, LAAF**_

_**Listed within this document are the results of random population infection. Each gender, age group, lifestyle, and treatment is recorded to provide the initial data of the virus Kerschell, A.K.A. The White Death.**_

_**Problems developed at several ground sites that prohibited the proper lockdown of the planet Kenton. It has been concluded that a foreign intelligence agency has made planet fall and attempted to weaponize said virus. It is imperative that we secure appropriate samples and data pertaining to symptoms and effects for immediate processing at an approved LAAF research facility within the Lyran Alliance proper.**_

_**If this virus has indeed fallen into enemy hands, this data will prove crucial to our cure development and proper identification of mass infection.**_

_**This information is classified and not to be shown to any personnel under security clearance level eight. All information therein is deniable under the Ethical Exceptions clause in the NBC (Nuclear, Biological, Chemical) Containment Protocol.**_

_**Supporting documentation is attached and will be sent prior to phase three of the ground operation.**_

_**I take full responsibility for civilian casualties and have personally ordered Operation: Whitewash into action. Please refer to LA code 14069b.4 when processing. Procedural orders strictly follow said protocol and protect me from consequential charges outside a private board panel assembled under the NBC Containment Protocol guidelines.**_

Kirsa read every last word of it and felt sick to her stomach. He justified the induced murder of over a hundred innocent civilians to get his initial 'data' back to command. The people of Kenton were guinea pigs for the Lyran Alliance government, all in the name of protecting their internal citizens.

Ian finished reading the document as well, "I guess… if this did get out into Lyran Alliance worlds, they could use the data. I just can't believe it went down like that."

Kirsa was still stunned, "What?"

"I mean, it all went to hell here, but think of all those out in the Inner Sphere that would be susceptible to attack if someone did get this out. This was the LAAF's plan from the start: to collect as much info about the virus as possible to fortify their populations."

Kirsa was shocked that Ian could nearly agree with it, "Not like this, Ian." Her eyes widened to show him the horror of it all, "Not like this."

"Man, that could have been your family." Derrick, one of Kirsa's men guarding the door tried to explain it to Ian, "Those people did nothing wrong, they were pulled for the sake of 'variety'. Your mother, you sister, just because they wanted a white female age--"

"Enough," Kirsa was through discussing this. She looked at Ian and needed to know he was on board, "Are you with me, or him?"

"What? You mean Thames?"

"Yeah. This cannot pass. Are you with me, or not?"

Derrick came further inside the room behind Ian, which told him that if he weren't that he would be a liability to her team, which she now saw as against Thames and his men. This was treason, but it was treason with his brothers and sisters. He grew up on Kenton just like Kirsa, and really needed to hear it from her just why this was so bad. His heart understood, though his mind justified the means.

"I… I don't know. What are you planni--" Derrick hit him in the back of the head and knocked him out.

Kirsa just looked at Derrick and the other man guarding the door. "You understand that no one else knows this, and that we will be seen as traitors. Even if we succeed, we will not be allowed to live."

Derrick answered for her, "I never believed a death could right another death, but we were charged with protecting those people. I… we failed, and I'm willing to make up for that."

Kirsa looked at the other man, and he nodded. They were on board, but they were only three. They needed more, and she knew just the group of people to help her out.

* * *

Rictor had over watch responsibilities for at least another two hours while Vanessa did her rounds through the building. With just the two of them, the scientists were restricted to the main building and not allowed outside at all. It was quiet, and extremely boring.

Six hours after the last Lyran security detail left the premises, Gennis ordered the base up and running again. It took forever, but he and Vanessa had to start constructing a vacuum environment for the scientists with its own decontamination chamber and hook up all the air scrubs and power supply junctions. After Gennis got the call to respond to Thao's team, he left the two elementals in charge while the Scientists worked on the finishing touches. It took forever, and they still had yet to know if the fruits of their labor would ripen and rot before they got a chance to eat them.

The early morning sun finally hit the streets, though the ground was still wet from the night's rain. He zoomed in on random people, watching store windows and rooftops. Since the riots in the city proper, people haven't really been outside much at all, with the traffic nearly disappearing and overall activity near ceasing. The lens on his scope were great however, almost powerful enough to differentiate someone's nose hair from several hundred kilometers away. The three people that were visible to him have been the subject of several camera zooming experiments. He even named them all.

Then came the knocking. Someone somehow made it past his surveillance sweeps and Vanessa's rounds, and all the way to their door! _What the hell,_ he thought as he made his way over to his rifle and then the actual door itself, Vanessa approaching from the rear of the building and the two scientists looking on from their computers in the lab. Everyone was as astounded as he was, especially since they haven't had one person approach since Gennis left on his emergency call. Since Thao didn't call in, Rictor was ready to take down whoever was in the best position to break their cover.

He looked through the peephole in the door, which was not an accurate description since it was really set up through a small series of mirrors so that one's eye wasn't in front of a hole any violent intruder would suspect it being in front of. Through it he saw a black man in his thirties, with a woman behind him. His forehead was largely distorted from the surface of the lens, and Rictor simply asked who it was.

He aimed his rifle at the sweet spot, the part of the door that was left intentionally soft and unarmored for the specific purpose of shooting someone through it while Vanessa took position at the other side of the frame.

A muffled reply came in, "This is Juliet Uniform Lima." Just then Julian Buhallin's face moved into the view piece, and Rictor instantly lowered his rifle.

"Oh, crap! Where have you been?"

Julian replied as expected, "Does it matter? What's the deal?"

"You have company. You vouch for them?"

"If you do not open this door, I will personally break my way in there and skin you alive with your own teeth…"

"Alright, alright. Just doing my job." He opened the door and let Julian in, plus Lex and his family. Upon seeing the state of the man, he instantly offered his services, "Jeeze, you need anything? Water, food?"

Julian just waved him off, "No. Thanks though. Hey Evan, I got the carrier for you, but you need to see something first. Oh, and this is Lex Barret, the head scientist here. He can help you with that cure."

Evan came over and helped Julian into the area they set up with all the testing equipment. Julian unloaded the bag containing the carrier and tiredly slumped himself into a chair. The night really ran him thin, and he looked extremely worse for wear.

"No kidding! That's great. Trevor, get some samples and prepare the cultures." Then he looked at Julian, "What do you need?"

Lex looked around and studied the place while Rictor sealed the door and Vanessa offered a spot for Melissa and Christine to sit down.

"I had to take that serum of yours." Julian was trying to cue Trevor and Evan in on his situation while Lex made his way over slowly, listening, but trying to get a grip on all the materials present.

Evan got real silent. Then responded slowly, "… how long ago?"

"Twelve hours ago."

"What serum?" Lex was suddenly alarmed at Evan's concern.

Evan just ignored him and continued, "You survived it that long? Holy crap."

"Yeah. It worked, but I do not feel so hot now."

Trevor approached them, fully interested in the conversation, "Well, it was just a temporary treatment. But if you survived twelve hours…" He looked at Evan, "We need blood samples. Get his stuff up. Rictor! Get a sleeping bag ready in the lab."

Rictor responded accordingly, figuring a man that looked like Julian did deserved all the rest he could get. He left and grabbed a sleeping bag with some extra clothes for Julian, then got into a containment suit and entered the airtight lab he helped construct over the last few days.

After Julian entered, Evan and Trevor suited up with Lex and made their way inside, taking blood samples and prepping the carrier. They wasted no time.

They studied the blood sample first while Lex looked on, somewhat disoriented at his situation as not but an hour and a half ago he was hiking through a city with his family. These guys were locked and loaded for their arrival.

"Look at that. You were right. The epinephrine boosters worked. It must've gotten into his marrow quick. That's the only way I could imagine him making it this long." Evan was working with the blood sample while Trevor looked on.

"But it's not contagious," Trevor was trying to absorb all the details here, and quickly turned to Lex, "How long have you been with him?"

"What, me? I don't know… nine hours or so?"

Evan's tone changed, "Oh man. They've already started working around it. Look at this."

Trevor looked into the microscope while Lex again asked what was going on. His concern rose every second.

"How long do I have?" Julian looked at the men and asked them straight forward. They even had him suit up, just in case further exposure would overrun his immune system.

"I don't know. Looks like… jeeze, another seven hours maybe? Six?"

Trevor added, "Once that thing gets around the nanites, you're screwed."

"Great," Julian replied as Lex jumped in annoyed as hell that he was left out of this.

"What are you talking about? It can't be what I think you're talking about." Lex walked up to Julian and got to the bottom of everything quick, "What… did you come in contact with that stuff? Is that why Ashley took that sample from me?

"Tell me you aren't infected!" He was shouting out of anger now.

Julian, too tired to really play along just answered bluntly, "Yeah. I got it in the forest, before we met up."

Lex was outraged. He started pacing and shouting with no restraint, "And you just 'walked' back up to me?! All this time and I could have caught it from you!

"And what about my family?! You didn't bother to tell me then? They could die because of you! How could you do this?!"

Julian just dipped his head depicting the screaming causing a headache, "It was a risk I had to take. I needed to get the carrier here."

"Willing to take--" Lex was so angry that he couldn't finish his sentence. He just paced as Trevor addressed him.

"Hey, look. Come over here, see what we're talking about. He knew it wasn't contagious."

"No, screw that! I'm taking that animal and getting as far from you as possible!" Lex made a move toward the carrier when Rictor stepped in his way, staying close since the shouting started.

"Hey, listen to me!" Trevor was trying to get some sense into Lex before things escalated, "How could he live twelve hours with that thing?"

"What?" Lex's brain was shifting gears, and it took him a second to figure out where to go.

"Take a look at this."

Lex gave in, walked around Rictor since he knew he couldn't go through him, and irritatingly looked into the microscope determined not to see anything that could ease his mind. If it shut them up and let him go, then he was game.

But the sight of it stopped him dead in his tracks. "Are those… nanites?"

"Now you're getting it." Trevor was willing to work with him instead of egg him on.

Lex stared at the culture for a moment, then started to piece it all together, "You… how did you do this? Solarcore made the P190s a few years ago, but these things are… where did you get these?"

"I synthesized and programmed them myself. They pepper the erythrocytes with this protein compound, fooling the viral sensors but still allowing the hemoglobin to work."

"So the virus doesn't know it's a red blood cell, and simply doesn't attach itself. That's… ingenious."

"Thanks. But it's only temporary. Julian only has a bit longer until it overruns him."

Lex looked over at Julian, who got up and made his way to the corner of the plastic lab to lie down and get some rest "So… he's not contagious?"

"Twelve hours? Looks like the nanites hit the marrow in time. If he's been on his feet this long, then no, he's not contagious." Evan walked over to the carrier and ran his hand down its back. It wasn't awake yet, but was going to be soon.

"So, you have everything I need here then?" Lex's brain cooled a bit, allowing for rational thought again.

"Yeah. But we need to do it fast."

Lex recognized all the equipment except a few choice pieces. One of them looked like it was a protein synthesizer designed for making nanites, something this planet did not have before. "You never answered me before. Where did you get that nanite technology?"

Trevor paused and looked at Evan, who nodded. Then he answered, "Blair Atholl."

Lex's mind swam. Blair Atholl hadn't been part of the Lyran Alliance for well over a decade. It was in control of the--, "You're… Jade Falcon?"

Evan let a short exhale out foretelling a subdued laugh while he shook his head. Trevor just answered slowly and deliberately so there was no confusion, "Yeah."

Lex sat down, "Holy shit. Holy shit. What the… what are _you_ doing here?"

"Look, we don't have time to explain everything. Will you work with us?" Trevor asked.

Lex's mind ran too many things through itself at once. He tried to blink several thoughts away, and thought about his wife and daughter somewhere else in the building.

"It doesn't matter, really. If you want to make a cure, this is the place to do it. If not, we'll do it and leave you outside." Evan was done talking, he just let it sink in.

After a moment, Lex turned and nodded. He was on board. Though he still hadn't really absorbed the fact that these were _Jade Falcons_ he was dealing with. He never met one before, always imagining them as bloodthirsty war mongrels.

"You're not going to…" he was careful not to let his family hear him, "kill me when we're done or anything, right? Now that I know…"

Evan just slapped his hand on Lex's shoulder as he walked past to prep the last of the equipment, "Nah. We need that cure out of you first." Then he laughed as he walked away.

* * *

He finally found a pilot. Gregors had been looking around for one for over four hours with no luck. On the military side, the pilots just sat through their briefings while the loading staff concentrated on all the grunt work. Here however, the ship captains were personally inspecting as much of their future cargo as they could. They usually helped tag the components and rode with it back to the star port so they could get in the cockpit and haul it all off planet.

Gregors had his little two-man entourage follow him around, assisting here and there, but ultimately looking for someone who could help him with the largest question he had on his mind.

He found that answer in the form of a middle aged veteran pilot by the name of William Kertz. This guy had the tail of this run and was trying to catch up on his inventory before tagging everything for shipment. Gregors started helping and maneuvered into a conversation from there. In fact, the man's frustration almost found Gregors off guard, who expected a long, drawn out game of chess to get the info he wanted. But Clan warriors and Inner Sphere civilians apparently have a different method of thinking.

"You trying to catch up for the last run here?"

"Yeah. You helping out or reporting back to someone?" Kertz was looking through another inventory list and then pointed out two more crates to be lifted from the area and loaded onto the trucks.

"Helping out as much as I can." He bent over and picked up some stuff Kertz was in the middle of moving when not directing people. "Some time crunch they gave you, huh?"

"You're not kidding about that. I didn't think when I woke up this morning that I'd get a call at two in the afternoon telling me to track down and load up _everything_ I got and have it off planet by nine AM."

Gregors looked at his watch, which read 5:48 AM. "Ouch. Cutting it close. Do you know when the last guy is supposed to be out?"

Kertz unloaded his armload into the back of the personal pick-up he was using. "You don't know?"

Gregors just shook his head.

Kertz laughed, "They don't tell you guys anything, do they?"

"Not since I signed up."

"Well, from what I've heard, everything not on this planet when we found it is to be in orbit by seven o'clock tonight. A moment too late means you stay here. Their blockade will make sure of it. I know it sounds like a lot of time, but trust me, there's a _lot_ to be moved yet. I don't know what they're thinking up there. It makes no sense."

Gregors knew. It hit him like a truck as his mind mended it all together. The star port was lifting things off at an incredible pace, the security teams were looking for an enemy presence in the city, and word of a second outbreak taking a Lyran military force out made its way to the civilians in the loading centers. Add that to the fact that Danner is rioting and you have total mission containment breakdown. There is no way to regain control of everything if you're afraid the enemy has the virus already. The mission has failed. The thought of several tons of nonselective herbicides connected itself with the terraformers' recent reactivation and it all became clear: They were going to kill the planet.

Everything the Lyran force was accountable for was to lift off and they were going to drop the curtain; kill the ecosystem, and hopefully, the virus. The risk of it in the enemy hands was too great, and with enemy troops rampaging 'mechs around their complex and samples stolen, they had every go-ahead to pull the plug.

His shocking revelation was apparent enough that Kertz asked him if he was okay.

Gregors just held up his arm signaling that he couldn't speak and walked off, puking several feet away. He felt sick and knew that he had thirteen hours to get his team off planet. He had no plan, and no idea how to go about it, but the clock was already ticking and it all closed in so fast.

That is when Weston put his hand on his shoulder to get his attention. "Hey, look who showed up."

Gregors wiped his mouth off and looked in the direction Weston was pointing in. He saw the same guys that attacked him back in the storage yard. They were minding their own business, not at all watching Gregors and Weston. He realized that they made their way all the way over to these civilian loading centers for their own reasons, and that they were the real deal. If they survived the Lyran response and made it this far, then the Nighthawks had one more problem in their way.

The men were looking over some inventory data pads and departure boards on the wall. They looked like they knew what they were doing too. Leaving the scene, he noticed that they took some pads with them after staring at the boards for a bit too long.

And then he found the ability to swallow again. _Maybe they won't screw us over after all,_ he thought.


	6. Chapter Five: Erase and Rewind

**CHAPTER FIVE: ERASE AND REWIND**

Kaptain Warrick made his way through his naval armory to the room marked with a radioactive sign. It was not an actual radioactive hazard, but the contents needed to be displayed for safety reasons.

Two guards waited for him at the entrance, secured to the wall and saluting upon his arrival. He nodded and made his way to the control panel, being one of two people on the ship with the access codes to enter. An electronic voice asked for his name, which he spoke aloud. When the sensors confirmed his voice match, he was asked to input his clearance code on the touch-pad, which read his fingerprints while computing the code itself. After that, he had to perform a retinal scan, and then finally, the door hissed and cracked open.

He made his way inside and flagged his executive officer in after him. Looking around, he noticed five warheads, all of significant size compared to regular naval missile payloads, but not too large for fitting and launching. The temperature in the room was controlled, which was meaningless to him since the warheads themselves were so well protected that they could sit in blazing jet fuel for a week and not activate. But he did not design the ship, and he could almost see his breath as he floated past the first two cone-shaped prizes.

He placed his hand on the third one, and wiped it across the name, using the physical touch to help him absorb his actions. Normally he could care less about such an endeavor, but these were ODIN 880s, the most powerful thermonuclear warheads in the Lyran military's active service. With a yield of 880 megatons, they had the destructive force of over 58,000 of the first fission bomb detonated over Hiroshima in ancient Terra over a thousand years ago.

In truth, the Lyrans could have continued developing more potent warheads, but with most colonized worlds having relatively concentrated population centers, there was no need. Only several of these were needed to be considered a 'planet-killing' salvo. The fallout from such a blast would inevitably destroy what was left behind, and the periodic isotopes needed to exceed the 880 mark were extremely rare; too rare to mass-produce in weaponry.

Five was considered overkill, and never has so many of these magnitude warheads been used before, let alone one of them. But the orders were simple: destroy everything. Not a tree should be left standing. Several of the terraformers actually 'sank' into the planetary surface due to the soft nature of certanium, of which would ultimately have the best chance of surviving the assault. The atmospheric converters themselves were placed in high mountain plateaus and the like to allow their work to hit the natural jet streams in the atmosphere and circulate the oxygen and plant growing material the quickest. With ground impacts, they may very well make it through, which is why they were fitted with the Soulder Chloride 6. Working with the fallout from the initial strike, the substance, once circulated in an ever-thickening atmosphere, would kill anything left surviving. Environments were finicky things, evolving and overcoming so much adversity to spring new life in the most unexpected of areas. It was against the grand design to turn a fertile planet into a lifeless rock floating in space, but it was unthinkable to let that virus be utilized against millions of people elsewhere.

Warrick knew his mission, and accepted the fact that he was about to unleash one of the deadliest assaults in known history. He also knew that this mission would never make the history books, and that possibly billions would owe their lives to him. The casualties however: it was his only solace that those on Kenton would die a quick death.

He looked at his XO, "You know what to do. Load them up and have everything ready one hour prior to the deadline."

"Aye, Kaptain."

* * *

The vent fans inside the bio-suits worked phenomenally, though no matter how much you wear them, you still feel the urge to physically wipe your forehead every now and again. For some reason, it was the smallest stuff that annoyed Lex the most in this line of work, in contrast to the largest.

He was crucial to the observation and analysis of the carrier-produced antibodies and how they break the White Death pathogen down upon contact. At first, he didn't know why he needed to know every intricate detail and the breakdown of such a seemingly simple process, because they had an antibody and normally it was just a matter of cultivating it.

In such situations, the carrier is injected with said pathogen and works up its immunity, creating antibodies and fighting it off. A sample of its blood is then extracted and analyzed, identifying the antibody and either making an antiserum or setting up a hybridoma to produce monoclonal antibodies en masse. A hybridoma is a mass of tumor cells that self replicate merged with mammalian cells that produce the antibody, turning the result into a cure factory that works on its own making a product free of all the extra junk acquired through a straight blood extraction from said carrier.

The problem here was: the caleb was not a mammal. That alone negated any hope of simply merging the production cells and culturing a cure since the human body would reject the substance on contact. So Trevor came up with a solution that was simple in theory, but intensely complicated in execution. Since the antibodies were proteins in their own right, he wanted to analyze exactly how they kill the virus and program new self-replicating nanites to imitate that procedure. He used the existing 'erythrocyte masking' nanites as a template and was reprogramming them with the information Lex documented to create a new hunter-killer unit to be used with the masker nanites, the adrenal boosters, and the EPO together. This created a four-part ingredient serum designed to work in three stages and shut the virus down quick. The erythropoietin, or EPO as they called it, was a substance that boosted the red blood cell production in the marrow. Too much of it could cause problems down the road, but it was better to survive to deal with that then die within six hours. The problem was, they only had a small, finite supply of it that was stolen earlier this week, so the stuff had to be finished before they field-tested it on Julian.

The H-K nanites too had a shelf life of only 24 hours, but it was more than enough to kill every last one of the White Death viruses, as once the existing units fortified the uninfected marrow and red blood cells, the hunters would seek out and destroy the virus that was struggling to find host cells. A two-pronged attack that Lex thought artistically merged combat tactics with bio-medical science. _These clanners, applying war to everything. What have I been missing,_ he thought?

The latter part of the operation gave him little to do though, as Trevor was completely occupied with programming the new machines, which was slightly more complicated than plugging a peripheral into a hard drive and punching commands through a keyboard. Several machines and processors were hooked up to the protein synthesizer, and then another for White Death samples. He was working up the sequence and constantly testing it to observe the progress so he did not have to completely re-write the code if a single step went wrong. With his time constraints, Lex just stepped back and let the man do his work. Evan was assisting with the lab details, which left Lex in the corner for the most part.

So, after half an hour or so, he approached Julian, who just awoke in the corner and sat up to watch from a distance. His face looked drained and he was definitely not in good shape. But he just waited patiently for the cure, as there was nothing he could do but watch and hope for the best. Lex had every reason to believe that he would come out of this all right, as long as nothing tragic happened in the lab. Rictor and Vanessa were taking turns rotating from the door to the complex and the entrance to the lab. They were like statues with their rifles, listening to all the activity outside. The suburb now had more people outside, some in mobs, and others clogging the roads. The fighting the night before must've done something to upset this whole place, because it was going to hell pretty fast.

"Julian."

Julian just stared forward, possibly not hearing Lex, or just ignoring him altogether.

"Hey, how do you feel?"

Julian's eyes simply shifted to meet Lex, then he sighed. Apparently, getting this man to speak was an accomplishment in its own right.

"You know," he started as he sat next to him, "I'm… sorry for going off on you earlier. I kind of forgot all that you did back there in the city." He wanted to keep this simple, lest he goes on rambling and annoying him more than he is already. "So for what it's worth, thanks."

Julian turned his neck so his faceplate centered on Lex and spoke in a low voice that was weak and barely audible, "Yeah, well, buy me a keg later and we can call it even."

Lex was kind of surprised at the answer. A sense of humor still lurked in there? But truthfully, what could he possibly to do help this warrior out? He was damn near unstoppable, running around with this virus in his system like it was the common cold.

"They almost done with that cure?" he asked with a little more volume.

Lex knew this was a grand way to start repaying him, "Yeah. They're going through the finishing touches now."

"Think it will work?"

"Honestly, yeah. Those two are incredible together. Look at them. They know their stuff." He looked over and saw Trevor and Evan working away, silent and intricately.

Julian chuckled lightly behind his faceplate, "One life to live, huh?" then he laid down again, "Looks like I get an extension."

For some reason that triggered a whole new train of thought for Lex. He tried to imagine all the stuff these guys probably went through just to get this far. Just getting to this planet must've been a trip in itself, let alone running an operation under the Lyran's noses and actually getting to the point of developing a cure. They were ahead of the major players, and he only counted six people so far, one of them being Harley.

But then it occurred to him that that was just one casualty, and since he was not familiar with war, he suddenly wanted to forget trying to figure out how many died already to get this far, on every side of the conflict. Because every time he dug deep to find something out, the world only seemed to get darker.

* * *

He really needed fresh air. Thames had been in his office for near six straight hours and saw no chance in the near future to escape. Harrison entered and gave him the latest deployment updates. Kirsa Lindemann entered behind him while he was speaking and stood at parade rest until he was finished. He saved the standard patrol teams for last, trying to find out who to fill the ranks with for the next shift of 'mech patrols as some were being shipped off and creating holes in his roster.

"The starport is going to need more security. We will be moving the section 'b' equipment shortly. I have Marks, but Jen's unit is not available to augment." The section 'b' material was the virus samples, cultures, and the product of their research.

Kirsa spoke up, suddenly adding her voice to the briefing. "My unit is standing by already. I can have them over there in several minutes if you need--"

"Negative Lt. Lindemann. I actually have an assignment for your group. The outer perimeter near the north shipping lanes has lot of area to be covered." Thames spoke from behind his desk.

"The north shipping lanes? I'm going to need near my whole unit to have all that ground covered."

Thames thought about it for a second, not entirely believing her, but mentally picturing the vastness of the terrain and concluding it wouldn't hurt to have extra people there if he was in fact concerned about the security. "So be it. Contact Leutnant Terryman after you suit up, he will give you your routes."

Kirsa, not responding vocally, kicked her heels together for a casual about-face and left the room. She met with three of her men down the hall and they turned and followed suit.

In the recreating room several hallways away, she entered the doorway and silently gained the attention of several more of her troops, as each of them understood what was going on. They nodded to the people they were talking to and joined the entourage following her to the locker rooms.

She got on her communicator and contacted her tech. Since her _Battlemaster_ was nowhere near combat condition since the last battle, she had former Colonel Richardson's _Caesar_ dusted off and loaded. They all just needed to dress out in their pilot suits and cooling vests, then get the routes and do what she originally planned on doing. Now that she has permission to take all their rides out for a spin, it was time to get the word out.

* * *

Thames' communicator rang and the ID showed his main tech analyst on the calling end. He picked it up, "Yeah?"

"_We found the server leak. One of the access rooms in the western complex. Looks like they simply hacked a trapdoor and extracted info directly from the servers themselves."_

His analyst was charged with finding the server hack and assessing the security breach. After searching the buildings up and down, he finally found a terminal that was capable of doing such a thing. The whole effort was kept under wraps, which made their job all the easier when finally coming up with something.

"What have you got then?" Thames wanted straight up info, no filler.

"_They covered their tracks well. The room wasn't a terminal per say, but they hardwired personal equipment into the wirework and took it all with them when they left. So we reviewed the security footage and found several people entering the room before the hack, and leaving afterward."_

Thames waited a second, then saw a clip from the security surveillance footage for that hallway earlier in the day. Kirsa Lindemann entered with some of her unit, one of them carrying a personal computer storage case.

"_So we ran a test with the local hub's memory, and finally pinpointed what they extracted from the servers. It was a decryption pack, 8C."_

Thames thought about what that meant, and his silence must've told his tech that he needed more clarification.

"_There is only one set of files that needed that pack, and those were the ones from the main research servers. So I cross checked those for what was downloaded in the past forty-eight hours, and came up with this."_

A list of files surged across Thames' screen, most of them patient files and some support documentation. These were slightly incriminating, proving that he was responsible for testing the virus on the locals.

"Did the packs work?"

"_Well, I didn't see them in the room, but this is the only stuff that needs what they took, and I guarantee this is what they saw. It all connects on this end."_

Thames thought about this development good and hard. He had a feeling that Kirsa was not entirely forthcoming with him over the last few days, but this changed things dramatically. _Could she be in cahoots with the terrorists?_ He entertained the thought of her getting this information from the ones that released the virus earlier, but then concluded that this info was extracted less than an hour prior to her involvement in the battle that killed one of the men in that guerilla unit that tore his base up earlier. Somehow she got a hold of this information, and frankly, he didn't care how. But he knew that she knew about the experiments, and that was all he needed to bump her up the priority list to slot number one.

"Okay, good work. I'll take care of it on this end." And then he cut the link.

He waited a moment to contemplate his options, then realized the best course of action would not be possible if any more time passed, so he called up his security guru and gave him his marching orders.

"Yeah, they are all suiting up in 'mech bay 3's locker room. She has another armored unit around in the motor pool. We do not need those facilities any longer, so do with that what you will."

"_Copy that, we'll take care of it."_

* * *

Thao was surprised at the amount of civilian activity he's seen coming back to HQ. This wasn't every day commerce, but people moving through the streets on occasion to Danner, either supporting or protesting the attempted Lyran overthrow.

The fighting seemed to have paused since the sun came up, but he didn't know who stood victorious, or if it wouldn't spark up again shortly. He was just glad Gennis chose something away from the city proper to store his men in.

He was almost a block away, looking through binoculars as the outsides of the HQ structure, which was a studio apartment building. He didn't notice anything alarming, so he flagged the vehicle forward to meet up with him. Gennis Newclay was next to him, helping assess the situation.

He turned to say something to Gennis when his communicator burst with static. Then, after a second, Star Captain Gregors' voice made its way through, _"Lead, this is Golf Romeo Echo, come in."_

Thao and Gennis were both wide eyed with shock. They hadn't heard from Gregors in almost fourteen hours. "This is lead, what is your status?"

"_Had a hell of a time here working the communicator. I am not explaining it. I have bad news."_

Thao closed his eyes in anticipation and pinched the bridge of his nose. Gennis turned his head in frustration as this mission could not possibly get any worse. "Go ahead," Thao responded.

"_We have a code black sixty."_

Thao physically shook his head trying to rattle that information loose and into an area of his brain that could find it. "What?"

"_I repeat, we have a code black sixty. Four hour deadline."_

Thao normally takes the best case scenario and builds on it until he comes to his conclusions, but after this entire trip, he flipped his thought process and thought of the worst thing imaginable, and then it came to him. _Code black sixty,_ it had to do with wiping out evidence, on a grand scale. _Oh shit,_ and he was at a loss for words. It was planetary. The whole thing, scheduled to be wiped out. And he had only two hours to get off this rock before it happened. The times spoken in code were always presented double their actual.

Gennis was thinking the same thing, "Two hours… and then they are going to wipe it? Holy shit…"

Thao's pulse near doubled as he responded into the communicator, "Understood. Can you coordinate a rendezvous?"

Gregors came back instantly, _"Affirmative. I got everything set on this end. I will send another communiqué in one hour. If we do not link up…"_

"We will link up. Count on it."

"_All right, have your stuff ready."_ And then the transmission was cut.

"Great, thirty minutes to have it all ready to go. We need to move." With a renewed sense of purpose, Thao nodded to Gennis as the vehicle containing his team arrived behind him. It was a short hop to HQ, and if a tragedy occurred in there while he was gone, he swore he would watch this place go up in flames to make sure it, and its curse were erased for good.

* * *

The door pounded several times as someone knocked on the outside of it. Rictor looked through the mirror apparatus and asked who it was. The reply came muffled through the door, "This is Tango Hotel Alpha."

His surprise was apparent in his voice, "We expected you several hours ago."

Thao was fairly grumpy at this point, "Let me in now or I will hang you by your scrotum."

Rictor promptly opened the door, "Damn, you two watch the same movies or something?"

Realizing what he said, Thao looked around and saw Julian sitting in the corner of the enclosed laboratory. Trevor and Evan were working on him, one with a syringe and the other with a flashlight looking into his eyes. They were wearing bio-chemical suits, and he was in a tee shirt and chem. pants. "When did he get back?"

"A while ago."

Suddenly concerned with what he was seeing, he asked Rictor, "What happened to him? Why is he not in a suit?"

Rictor almost looked to the floor when he spoke it, but stopped himself, "He got it."

"The white death?" There was a look of deep concern on his face that actually made its way through the fatigue.

"Aff, but we have good news."

The rest of the team filed in behind Gennis and they started packing their stuff up in the next room while Rictor continued, "We got the cure."

"What?" This was the first spot of good news he's heard since he landed on this rock. "That is great!"

"Why are they packing all their stuff up?"

Thao approached the edge of the lab, looking in and making eye contact with Julian, who nodded acknowledgement of his return. "We have two hours to take off."

"Two hours? Whoa, we do not have the--"

"I am not arguing. Pack it all up, now."

Rictor left and started getting his things together as quickly as he could. Thao just looked into the lab and saw that Julian didn't look that bad after sporting the virus. He thought it was impossible for that man to climb any further in the invincible category, but somehow he did it.

Then he turned his head and saw Melissa and Christine sleeping next to each other on a mattress on the floor, and connected them to Lex Barret inside the lab. Of course, he had no idea who these people were, but he would get caught up en route to Gregors' location. Things were looking up, if just for a few minutes.

* * *

Kirsa briskly walked into the locker room and found her gear on the right side of the first hallway. Further down were several Lyran mechwarriors coming in from their last rotation, one out of the shower and three more removing their cooling vests and extra equipment.

Her men fell in line behind her and started undressing accordingly. Since this was a commandeered facility, the female locker rooms were converted into a spot for the refrigerators and more storage. She didn't mind in the least that they all shared the same space now, having worked together for so long.

After removing her shirt and her boots, she picked up her communicator and tried to get a hold of her armor commander while Frank, her scout 'mech pilot, realized he forgot something he really needed to get before suiting up. He was always forgetting something, and became the fastest dresser among them to make up for his time lost running around.

"Maxwell, this is Lt. Lindemann. What is your status?"

She waited, but there was no reply.

"Maxwell…"

Just then, Frank found himself struggling to open the door to the hallway. "What the…? Wasn't this unlocked just a second ago?"

Then the world slowed down for Kirsa, every second crawling by like silt in a stream passing a waiting fish. She saw Frank out of the corner of her eye kick the bottom of the door and then turned her head to the left as the sudden realization of her predicament started to accelerate everything. Two of the Lyran mechwarriors were leveling submachine guns at her men from down the locker rows, with no cover or obstacles in their line of fire. Her entire unit was literally trapped in strip of death and had absolutely no idea.

As the world started to come to life around her, the sounds rising in pitch to match their real frequencies, she shot her hand into her locker to pull her side arm from its holster, left there since she conveniently 'skipped' stopping at the armory on her way in from the 'mech battle earlier. Her hand gripped the handle and her thumb snapped open the holster catch in one smooth motion when an explosion of light and sound ripped its way through her men.

"DOWN!!!" she yelled as she fell backward with her gun pointed at the Lyrans. And it was full speed from there. Several of her men actually instinctively hit the floor while several more were perforated in multiple areas at once, sending a mess against the far wall and covering the men behind them in gore.

She stopped breathing due to the suddenness of the situation and shot the first two men seamlessly, while their attention was still on their first targets. She was actually on the ground now when the third Lyran saw her gun in his direction. Daniel Boler, her new second in command jumped up onto the bench to grab the man's attention while Kirsa fired another round off and rolled under the bench in the middle of the isle for cover. Rounds sparked and peppered the area to her right, showing her how close she was to being ripped to pieces if her reflexes weren't in high gear.

Daniel took a few steps forward while another man in her unit got his side arm up and opened fire at the Lyrans. She scooted from the bench to watch Daniel jump down and out of the spotlight. He caught several rounds in the chest and fell back onto her though, who was still on her knees at this point. Using him as a shield and stopping him from falling on her at the same time, she pulled him close with her left arm while extending her right one past his body to line up her sights on the remaining Lyrans.

It was over in a matter of seconds. She killed the last one and realized that at least four Lyrans nearly emptied entire magazines in her direction; all of them now lying on the floor in twisted, contorted positions in pools of their own blood.

But the real gore was behind her. She slowly put Daniel down, who was already dead and turned to lose her breath indefinitely. It was horrific. Half of her unit was taken out in those few seconds, with the entire wall behind them painted in their blood. The remaining men were jumbled about, some halfway in their lockers and others under the benches for cover. There was nothing to hide behind, aside from the bodies of their friends.

The sudden silence after the eruption of gunfire was not enough to stop the ringing in their ears. Three of the downed men were still alive, one with a sucking chest wound, another with half of his face blown off, and the last with a liver wound and two more midsection hits, not to mention the meat-rag that was his left leg. He grabbed his leg and kept screaming, trying to keep his voice down, but unable to override his body's natural reaction.

She instantly turned and continued putting her gear on. "We have to get out of here. Finish up, _fast_."

Ernesto, one of the younger members of the unit was over his friend with the sucking chest wound. That person was just weasing his life away, and Ernesto quickly ripped his shirt open and checked for an exit wound. Kirsa heard him and scolded him immediately while clipping her cooling vest on. "I said keep moving!"

"They're going to die here, jeeze! We need to do something!" He pulled what he could out of his pockets, looking for something to seal the hole and stop any more of his friend's lung from collapsing.

She closed her locker and turned to him while lacing up her boots, "There will more coming. We have but seconds to get to our 'mechs and get to the comm station. If this information doesn't get off planet, then they will have died for nothing. So keep moving!" She knew they've been had, and if Thames wanted them dead, there was nowhere they could turn to for sanctuary, at least not on the base.

Ernesto's friend looked up at him, unable to draw enough breath to speak. He touched Ernesto's face and shook his head slightly, telling him to keep moving. Even on the ground and dying, he agreed with her. And Ernesto winced in frustration. The logic part of his brain tried to pull him back to his locker to ignore his dying friends, the other one successfully quieting down, but falling again and agitating his leg to force him into a new screaming frenzy.

Ernesto finally turned and grabbed the stuff from his locker. "What about Maxwell?"

Kirsa was finished suiting up, and she started heading to the other end of the room, picking up one of the submachine guns along the way and patting down one of the Lyrans for extra ammo. "He's gone."

"Shit, we're all that's left?"

"I don't know, but we have to act like we are. There are no mistakes from here out." And they followed her into the 'mech bay, which was surprisingly void of Lyran security patrols and murder squads. Behind them Ernesto closed the door to the locker room, letting the metal of the door itself block out the screaming from the dying men inside. Finally it was silent, and for some reason, that was almost worse.

* * *

Thao saw the rendezvous point ahead through the windshield. He held his hand out the window to signal to the other cars to hold back for a moment while he confirmed the location and made sure they weren't all heading into an ambush. It was already night and the headlights were off, making navigating rough enough as it was. He was lucky they saw his hands through the dark.

The vehicle slowed to a stop and almost immediately Gregors appeared from within a closed shop doorway to greet him. But it was brief.

"We have fifty minutes. What in Kerensky's name took you so long?"

"Look, all the streets are grid locked, and the sidewalks are worse. I think we may have… injured some people just getting over here, so just concentrate on the task at hand." Thao was going to be defensive, but he knew any drama would only slow them down at this point.

"Well, that guy you were worried about in the research center? He is the leader of another covert ops team. I do not know who sponsors it, but they have a plan to get out of here, and I found a way to exploit it."

Thao smiled, "Oh, and I thought this was an original plan you thought of."

After a moment of Gregors thinking whether or not that was a joke, Thao finally let out a soft laugh.

"Why ruin a good plan? I just think we could do it better."

"Touché." Then Thao signaled the rest of the vehicles up.

* * *

They set up shop on the roof of the warehouse Gregors led them to, looking through the skylight windows while the rest of the unit waited for them on the ground. Gregors, Thao, and Gennis met up with Weston and Hicks, who were all up there now trying to figure out how to go about this suicide trip.

"They have nearly taken over the entire shipping crew. One by one they snuck in there and grabbed someone, then took his uniform and continued working. Almost twenty minutes, but they are almost completely in place." Weston gave the rest of them his update since he was up there while they were all gone.

"Then they prepared some packing crates for human transport, probably for the rest of them. This unit already has reserved space on a cargo ship taking off soon, so they are just going to roll into its bay and do whatever they want on board after lift off." Hicks filled in the rest for them.

"Alright, then we need to hit them before they leave. What kind of timetable are we looking at?" Gregors was already formulating plans.

"About twenty five minutes until lift off."

"So whatever we are going to do, we are going to do it now." Thao spoke from behind them, studying the crates prepared as they were lifted onto one of the transport trucks. They may come in handy later.

"Then we do a pincer maneuver. One team on the north end, and another on the south. The civilians behind the south team, and they move in after it is secured."

Without much delay, figuring that any other plan would take too long to formulate and execute, especially since the drivers were on the floor now, suggesting that they had only a minute or two anyway, Thao concurred, "Alright, do it."

* * *

A minute and a half later, Thao addressed everyone and gave them their assignments. Then he had a few words, and they listened intently.

"We have gone far," he looked every one of them in the eyes, "We have gone so far. We are an offensive intelligence unit our own clan does not know about. We traveled several dozen light years from two locations to land on this backwater planet, through a naval blockade. We pulled information from under the noses of the bulk of this place's security forces, and we developed a cure. A cure to possibly the most lethal virus in history."

His head dipped as he collected his thoughts. Then he continued, "We did all this, at the cost of our own. Some have fallen, and they will only be remembered through us." He looked at Julian as the words ate deep.

"In basic training, we were taught to rely only on ourselves, on the individual. Our way of war promotes that, and pulls us further apart. But we are a team, and all of us know that our survival depends on each other." Gennis looked on, contemplating what was being said.

"This is the final stretch. We are going to go in there to kill off an entire covert ops unit, much like our own. It will be messy, but if we do not get off this planet, our trothkin will have died in vain. Our clan depends on us; the entire occupation zone depends on us. We keep moving, no matter what happens."

Julian helped him out, "Hurdle the dead and trample the weak."

"Seyla," Thao replied, not being able to say it any better.

The rest of them followed suit, "Seyla."

Lex and his family looked on, in awe of their bond. Many of these people haven't met before a week ago, yet they were willing to die in a heartbeat for one another. Though he was a periphery scientist, he felt a small ping of pride having been associated with them. Despite political affiliation, and the anti-clan propaganda by the Lyran Alliance, he found that common ground that made his life worthwhile.

"Okay, now let us finish this." Thao turned and lead his team north.

Julian approached Gennis Newclay and presented him with a small, sealed plastic container. "Gennis," he started, waiting for him to turn. Then he looked at it as he presented it to him, "This is Ashley's DNA. I know you cannot do much with it…" then he gave it to him, "but she was a fine warrior. The best I have served with. If anything can be done for her, please see to it."

Gennis has no words to respond with. He could see the toll this was taking on the man that survived the virus, and her sacrifice. He took the container and pocketed it, nodding in understanding. Ashley was his troop, and he felt obligated to make sure she lived on, though he had yet to figure out how. Warriors like that defined this clan, whether it knew it or not.

* * *

The north team actually entered through the ceiling, working its way down the rafters into position. It consisted mostly of the 32nd, with Thao, Julian, Gregors, and Tyler. Julian was still under the weather from his recent cure treatment, but was still strong in spirit. With the broken ribs and fatigue kicking in from the drugs he was on, he was positioned to basically follow and not die. Lucky for him, Evan and Trevor were able to patch up his cuts, though his movement was severely hampered since they were so deep. Not once did he complain, and never did he hold back. He just stood as tall as he could behind the rest of his team.

They stayed quiet while the south team moved into position outside the front garage doors. That team was lined up with the gunners in front and the non-combatants in the rear. They were the heavy hitters, having the numbers to their advantage. Thao knew he just had to provide a good distraction and shoot when the enemy had its back turned. Dirty, yes, but this was not about honor anymore.

Tyler was making his way down the far side of the wall, just below his teammates when one of the drivers made his way up to the rear truck. They were finally all loaded up, and the ROM team had assimilated everyone except the drivers. Luckily, no one knew anyone else, so it was not an issue. What was an issue was the driver dropping his keys, and turning to pick them up.

Tyler instantly froze, trying to maintain the lowest profile possible. But it was no use. By some cruel twist of fate the driver looked up right when he needed not to, and saw Tyler's frame hugging the support rail leading down from the ceiling.

"What the hell?" was the only thing to escape his mouth as one of the ROM agents in sheep's clothing turned to see what stopped the driver in his tracks. And he promptly pulled a sub machine gun from his jacket and opened fire.

Tyler instantly dropped to the floor, falling near twenty feet and landing in a crate. The other members of the north team were now exposed, and they had to pick out their landing spots as they all dropped to avoid the incoming fire. Sparks shot all over the ceiling where they were and down the wall as the ROM members tried to pick them off mid-fall. Luckily, the drop was fast, and each of them landed where they wanted to, though none of them liked being in the line of fire now that everyone's attention was focused on them.

Random people from within the warehouse formed up and opened fire, creating a composite force and denying Thao any way to organize it. Some looked like drivers, some looked like guards, and others wore labor uniforms, but they were all members of the other covert ops team, and it made it hell to pick your targets out.

Thao's team grouped up and found cover from the agents as they closed in. He then just shouted to the other team, which sounded like gibberish in the spaces between gunfire. But they needed a reprieve fast as the gunfire from several of the enemy chewed through the wooden crates they were using for cover, and the others maneuvered for a firing solution. When the tension couldn't get any thicker, the south team entered the scene in the form of four gun toting crusaders charging into the facility spewing enough ammo ahead of them to chop down a small forest.

Two ROM agents instantly met their death as the rest dropped and turned to meet the oncoming threat. Most found cover while one decided to stop the offensive altogether.

Hicks was in the lead, and he was almost out of his first magazine when he noticed something small and red being hurled at him from behind a large crate. When he realized what it was, it was too late. The others around him scattered and slid on the concrete floor behind whatever they could find before the tragedy developed in front of them.

A fire extinguisher made its way over toward the front of the south team, and was nailed with a bullet moments before it hit head level on its descent. The pressured mix inside the container exploded from the impact of the round and blinded Hicks while throwing all his senses off.

It was mere moments before his body, caught in the open now that he stopped, was riddled with enemy fire and dropped to the ground after shaking violently in the air under the weight of the ammo used. But it was just one corner of the combat, as the sound of several firefights was only choppy due to people reloading so much.

During the most recent pause, the agent who threw the extinguisher looked up as he heard the quick groan of a loading crane and the sound of wood creaking to find a giant box being shoved from its place atop another to the ground right on top of him. His body was gone the moment the crate hit the floor, and it never emerged again.

Gregors jumped from the crane he used to knock the larger crate lose as the support bars bore the brunt of automatic gunfire. He mixed it up the best he could, but now needed the others to start balancing the numbers. He heard Thao trying to coordinate this chaos as he landed on the hard floor, rolling to absorb the impact and being thankful that he was able to find cover instantly upon landing.

Suddenly, the first of the trucks took off out of the warehouse as things just got more complicated. Thao ordered his men to the second truck, and the civilians appeared in the front doorway after the first one made its way out of there.

Evan ran for the cab of the second one to slow it down when a ROM agent jumped onto the front crates loaded on the flatbed and shot him down mid run with two three round bursts. He jumped off of the crate to get himself out of the spotlight when both Gennis and Vanessa opened fire, nearly ripping him in half in the air as he now limply fell to the ground. But the driver got the rig in gear by then and was making his way out after the first truck. Gennis had to move out of the way to avoid becoming the latest casualty and grouped the non-combatants together for what he thought Thao was trying to pull off.

An explosion hit the left side of the warehouse, distracting both teams and starting several small fires. Thao and Gregors were still in that area, and were just breaking through a small ROM team that thought it had them pinned down.

The two ROM agents that caused the mess ran from the smoke and flaming crates as Thao appeared through the smoke and landed on the rear one, putting the barrel of his pistol up to the man's neck and blowing a single round through his throat to nearly sever his head altogether. The other one turned to meet Thao front and center when Julian appeared behind Thao with his pistol raised and nailed the man twice in the chest and once in the face, never losing stride through the quick firing sequence. Thao watched Julian make his way to the second to last truck as Gregors and Tyler caught up to him.

The third truck started up as two more figures jumped onto the flatbed behind the cab and hid amongst the cargo.

But that was not Thao's main concern now. He had his men jump on the last two trucks, with him, Julian, Alex, Tyler, Gennis, Melissa, and Christine on the first one, having Weston waiting for them behind the wheel already. The rest loaded on the other one when Gregors jumped in the cab, and they were off to play catch up, some of them struggling to find hand holds to make the bumpy trip, and others trying to find ways to aim their weapons forward from the flatbed rear over the cabs at the trucks ahead. Either way, the cooler outside temperature ate into all of them instantly as they crossed the threshold to the outside world again, and it was full speed from there.

Closing in on the trucks ahead, and able to do so since Thao had his troops dump all the loaded crates off the rear to lighten the load and allow for better acceleration, the awaiting team opened fire back at them. The cockpits were peppered with automatic weapons fire and the snap of rounds clearing within inches of some of his other troops behind him forced Thao to order the trucks up a side road that ran up a hill slightly but stayed parallel with the trucks already ahead of them.

Keeping an eye on them below, he had his men speed up as much as possible and ran as many combat plans through his head that he could. When the roads merged again, he wanted a plan. They _were_ getting off this planet.

In the distance, he saw the last of the cargo and dropships taking off, one by one. The hulking crafts lit up the area and disappeared behind huge glowing orbs in the clouds as their thrusters illuminated the thick cloud cover and sent it rippling in their wake. Checking his watch, he realized they had just over sixteen minutes to get to their ship. Things could not get any tighter than this.

* * *

Colonel Jeffrey Thames rode in his command vehicle to the starport to board his transport and leave this planet behind him. He was getting yet more updates from his aides when he noticed a contingent of 'mechs near the auxiliary communication array outside the starport, the one that was utilized if the main one in the tower ever went down.

Curious, he checked in with Leutnant Terryman to find out what patrol got stuck in that area as he ordered his driver to make a closer pass. "Leutnant Terryman," he began.

"_Right here, sir."_

"What patrol forces are currently at the auxiliary comm station outside the starport?"

"_Sir?"_

"You heard me correctly. Find out, now." He heard some conversation with a third person and the beeping of a datapad being accessed.

Then eventually, _"Sir, I have no one in that area. Can you identify the unit?"_

Thames nearly rolled his eyes, but just took the binoculars from the side compartment in his command vehicle and looked out the side window while his driver continued his trip. After a moment, he realized that these 'mechs were not in the dark blue paint scheme his unit dropped with. In the poor light, he eventually figured out that it was a deep purple, and there was only one group of pilots on this planet that had those things. "Terryman, did any of your men confiscate the militia 'mechs?"

"_That's a negative, Colonel. We left them all alone."_

_Son of a bitch,_ he thought as he opened a general frequency. "Pilots in the PSI militia detail, identify yourselves."

The voice that came back was hauntingly familiar, and one that should have been dead almost an hour ago, _"Thames, this is Kirsa Lindemann, commander of the unit you tried to assassinate."_

_Great, now she's pissed AND armed!_ "Kirsa, nice to hear from you. Just what may I ask are you doing?" He pointed his driver ahead through another set of gates, keeping the unit in view in the rear window.

"_Wouldn't you like to know?"_ And then the signal was cut. He knew she was up to something, and then realized what kind of motives she would have to mess with a relay station, and what kind of information she could broadwave…

"Shit. Bains," he contacted the commander of the nearest security contingent.

"_Bains here."_

"We have a situation on the south side of the complex. The militia commander is trying to release sensitive information via the auxiliary comm station. I want her unit secured and the station destroyed."

"_Copy that sir. What forces can I tap?"_

"Whatever you need. Thames, out."

The driver to his personal vehicle looked back slightly and asked Thames if he wanted him to reroute to the dropship containing his personal 'mech, in case he wanted to take care of this personally. And Jeffrey just contemplated his options, and glanced an eyeshot toward the hulking spacecraft that housed his machine.

* * *

Gravity waned to the right as the trucks veered left to meet up with the transports carrying the hostile members of the warehouse team. Tyler stayed sharp on the first one and Vanessa had her gun ready from the second, ready to shoot any threats as they approached. They knew it was going to get hot, and their fingers were already tightened on their triggers, waiting for that unlucky operative to poke his head out.

Their speed increased as they headed back down the hillside and nearly right into the trucks themselves! Now, the engines of all five roared around them and random fire from all three cargo trucks made its way over to greet Thao and his men. It was show time.

Weston got as close as he could to the lead truck, judging it off just enough to make the driver of the first one jolt to the left to avoid a possible sideswipe. When it straightened out, he dropped back to toy with the second one as Tyler's cover fire already had them pinned down. It proved to be effective enough to allow the guys on the flatbed to jump onto the rear of the second one. They had to time their leap just right, hitting it right as the flatbed got its closest, using its momentum to help them and carry them over the small chasm moving below them at over 110 kilometers an hour.

Thao had Christine in his arms when he went, and had to land on his back to protect her from his weight upon impact. He luckily exhaled right in time to avoid getting all the wind knocked out of him, but still, it was jarring enough to make him shake his senses back into order again.

With that truck unloaded, Weston headed up to play with the lead truck again, which was now trying to avoid getting run off the road.

Instantly Thao's men were met with resistance. Two agents met them with sub machine guns and Thao had to fall backward to avoid getting shot in the face. The rounds launched past his face and into the far right side of the windshield of the truck behind him. He was outside enough that the crates loaded in the middle did not impede his gunman's line of fire to the last truck, helping him force his opponent to concentrate on his aim that much more.

He instantly moved in and made his way down the small pathway between the two rows of crates to flank the gunman and make this trip all the more enjoyable. The pathway itself was shielded from the wind going around the cab and filtered it between the crates themselves, creating pockets of crosswind that were extremely difficult to get through without losing your balance, followed by a calm stretch until the next one. He wondered how he would make it through the little opening with all that wind to get behind the gunman when he noticed the arm of the man stick out in his pathway. It looked like the man was thinking the same thing Thao was, but was moments late getting to the center.

Thao lurched his way across the last cross way and met the man as he appeared in front of him, kicking him in the crotch and snapping his neck before he could recollect himself from the windy passage. This gave Thao a submachine gun, and he couldn't have been happier.

But then a spotlight crossed the opening quickly, and he heard the familiar thunder of 'mech footsteps alongside the rig. For some reason, this wasn't challenging enough…

Julian was already making his way to the cab to gain control of the vehicle, not having much to offer the combat and knowing the priorities of this particular niche of the operation. Alex met him in the front as the spotlight zeroed in on them from the _Starslayer_ keeping pace from the left. It asked for them to identify themselves over the external loudspeaker, but they were all too busy killing each other to respond. This did not bode well with the pilot however, and he slowly, but intricately started to fire on them.

Alex gave Julian a nod and then braced himself for an acrobatic maneuver that would send his feet swinging into the driver's side window and straight into the driver, knocking the person to the right and right into the arms of Julian, who strained against the pain of his ribs as he hung upside down and held onto the bastard through the passenger window opening long enough for Alex to maneuver into the cab and fully push the body of the driver out of the driver's seat, controlling the steering wheel first and moving from there.

The jolt of the wheel shooting around to the right resulting from Alex's impact sent the whole truck to the right and out of the line of fire of the _Starslayer_, who just lit up several medium lasers at the rear of the truck. It missed as it all synchronized in favor of the Nighthawks, and Julian subsequently lifted himself back onto the roof of the cab so Alex could finish the driver off with a single pistol round at point blank range. The flash of the round was clear, but the sound was barely audible over the roar of the engines and the 'mech behind them.

* * *

Weston slammed into the lead truck again, disturbing the passengers in the rear and forcing them out into the open. But the road ahead of him got pretty rough and it slowed his vehicle down just enough for one of them to line a shot up right into the cab of the truck. A full auto burst sent at least fifteen rounds into the front left wheel well, blowing the tire and veering it back into the main road past the second truck and into the shoulder, where an elevated drainage curb found its way in front of the left of the truck.

The result was ugly, as the truck lifted from the left and actually rolled over itself in mid air before crashing on its roof and wrapping around a tree, folding the cab around it and uprooting the thing just enough to send the rear over the front. The amount of glass and debris flying off of the wreckage actually slowed the pursuing 'mech down as the boom of the impact forced the remaining gunman on the back of the second truck to reel back, opening him up to Tyler, who tackled him into the last crate and fought for control over the man's rifle.

They grappled for a few seconds before Tyler was temporarily blinded by the _Starslayer's_ spotlight again. The momentary lapse gave the ROM agent all the time he needed to turn Tyler around and ram a combat knife through his heart from behind.

Gennis appeared just in time to see Tyler's body drop and raised his gun to dispatch the operative. And even though he couldn't hear the click of the firing pin driving into place without the accompanying explosion of the ammo casing, he knew his weapons was either out of ammo or jammed. The agent pulled his knife from Tyler's back and let the body finish falling to the ground. Then he lunged at Gennis, who stood there vulnerable far too long.

He dodged at the very last second and actually felt the heat of the small laser fired from the _Starslayer_ at him searing the body of the operative in half. In the spotlight, Gennis just waited for the other man to become the target he was intended to be by the Lyran 'mech behind, which was really going to have to be remedied soon enough, because no time was wasted dodging for more cover as the follow up shots started destroying some of the cargo around him. He almost landed into Thao, who just found Melissa and Christine huddled between the first two crates, farthest from the combat.

Lucky for him, after ten seconds or so, the 'mech peeled off and sped across the field between the soon to be winding road and the starport. While this was a blessing, Thao knew that it left for a reason, and he shuddered to think of what it was.

* * *

Gregors worked his way up to the last truck with his own, and managed to overtake it despite the incoming fire. Several holes in the windshield created an incredibly loud whistling that acted as white noise and seemed to block the world out around him. And for the better, because it was hard enough to control a truck this size around one slightly larger, and far heavier.

He made his way in front of it and feinted a sideswipe to get the truck to back off and let him in front, where Vanessa launched herself onto the hood and fired her submachine gun right through the windshield and driver together.

She instantly dropped the gun and threw her body around, grabbing the steering wheel to keep the truck on the road as the dead weight of the body of the driver drove the accelerator all the way down.

Gregors followed suit and moved to the right to avoid getting slammed from behind by a near out of control cargo truck. As he let the truck make its way aside his, Lex, gathering all the testicular fortitude he could, jumped onto the right side of the cab of the last truck, and crawled in through the window opening. Working with Vanessa, who still had the wheel, he dislodged the dead driver's foot and eventually maneuvered the body out of the way, taking the thing over completely and slowing it down to a stop.

Gregors, happy to finally gain some amount of control over this high-speed chase, stopped next to it and had his crew change rides.

Rictor already had a bead on the two operatives on the rear of the truck, and after two shots, they jumped off, attempting to regroup and formulate a successful offensive. The problem was: Vanessa was on the ground too, and she shot their legs out from under the truck, which left them in a bad spot.

The rest of the team boarded as she finished them off and Lex accelerated as quickly as he could to catch up to the pandemonium ahead.

* * *

"_We have incoming. At least two lances, Lyran heavies, approaching from the starport."_

"Copy that. Alpha lance, standby." Kirsa knew this was inevitable. Since Thames spotted her men, her timetable was cut in half, at best.

Since her armor unit was murdered in the motor pool staging area, she had to have one of her mechwarriors power down and dismount to power the comm station up and get the broadwave out. It was the waiting that was excruciating. She just thanked the heavens that Thames had no more air support on planet.

That left her one man short of two lances, which meant she was already outnumbered. A Third lance was enroute from another 'mech bay, supposedly one that did not have troops waiting to kill them. Their ETA was over two minutes however, and that wouldn't factor in the initial contact. Lucky for her, she was on the defensive, and that was how she liked it when outnumbered.

Her men got in position for the first volley, and she had them prime all their long-range weapons. The second lance heading her way was from the west side of the starport, and they had another minute before they were in range. It was already interesting, and McCoy just now got the power grid up and running.

They just waited, all watching the range meters tick down for the incoming 'mechs, waiting for the numbers to turn green indicating their weapons' maximum range was attained.

And at once they all fired. It was so calm at first, like a firing drill. All of her alpha lance unloaded its long-range weapons into the small mass of 'mechs lumbering its way, looking so casual. The sudden flashes of light fully exposed her units and illuminated the streets ahead of them.

The incoming Lyrans dispersed slightly, one of them jump-jetting to the side and the point unit increasing its speed.

Then the return fire came, and the silence finally ended.

"Go right! Bravo, take the western front!"

"_Copy that! On our way."_

The Lyrans concentrated fire on alpha lance's point unit, a _Zeus_, and then worked their way out from there. They managed a left wedge and alternated fire between units efficiently, and she just waited for her moment to burn in there and screw their initiative up. But in the distance, she saw Thames' _Sagittaire_ make its way from its drop ship in her direction at full speed. A smile crept across her face at the thought of killing that man, and she used that feeling to pull her into the ensuing combat.

Instantly the heat of war washed over her. She alternated her gauss rifle and PPC to pummel the lead Lyran _Awesome_ while its attention was on one of her lancemates. From a distance she continued, wanting to save her armor for Thames himself. She did not want to talk to him, however. If she wanted the broadwave to get out, she needed to take these Lyrans down _quick_. She knew there was no room for mistakes. Every shot needed to count, everyone here depended on it.

"_I have the computers booting up. Give me another two minutes to upload this stuff and get all the codes right."_

"We don't have two minutes. We're outnumbered and outgunned. Get it done and get back in your rig, ASAP." She moved to the right to continue pounding the Lyran lance and further set her up for Thames' arrival. So far the combat has been even, with her unit actually scoring some enemy engine hits. But they were almost in close range now, and with their assaults, that was bad news all around.

So she checked in on the other unit, the one defending the station to the left, "Sanders! Status!"

"_Ma'am! We're getting--" _the sound of autocannon impacts and warning sirens from her cockpit sensors interrupted her speech, _"we're getting overran! Brickhouse got headcapped and we're outnumbered two to one here! I can handle the--"_ another impact shut her signal down entirely.

Kirsa looked over to see how bad it was, and Sanders was still fighting, but one of the Lyran advancers ran past her unit straight for the comm center. Cursing inside her head, she made the decision to reinforce her men near the station. "I'm off to help bravo lance! Stay sharp and don't let up!"

"_We got it over here. Jacobs, take care of that Marauder, I got this asshole here."_

"_Sure thing."_

Charging as hard as she could to make up for the lost time, she opened fire on the _Avatar_ that was already firing on the relay station. It already took out one of the antenna arrays, and she knew there were only two left. If he took those out, then that was it, game over.

In a desperate act to get its attention, she zoomed her view in full and worked her reticle over the thing's knee, charging her PPC and firing it and her gauss rifle off at the same time, completely amazed that she actually hit her mark.

The impact jolted the _Avatar_ into awareness of her, and it followed suit. But not ten seconds into one on one combat with the thing she found a _Blackhawk-KU_ behind it firing on the facility. Sanders was limping behind it, feebly firing the small laser it had left, but making no impact. Eventually, Sanders' _Crusader_ was shot down from behind by the last Lyran 'mech on that side, and Kirsa now found herself alternating fire between the _Avatar_ and the _Blackhawk-KU_ in an effort to stop both of them from destroying the facility.

"McCoy! I need you out here!"

"_I have it all loaded, but the tower is jamming me. I'm rerouting the signal directly to the satellite system, and-- fuck!"_ She heard him typing and working in the background. _"It's taking me longer than I hoped."_

She gave up counting on him for support and made the decision to concentrate on the _Avatar_ she already softened up. Once it was finished, she would take the others out.

"_Ma'am, they're retreating! Their dropship opened up and they have support units standing by. What's the word?"_ Alpha lance was in good shape and managed to push the Lyran bastards back.

She looked at her telemetry and found that her third lance was in range to help them out. "Push the charge! Take every one of them out!"

At that moment she finally managed to rip a gauss slug through the left torso of the _Avatar_, penetrating the engine and shutting it down for good.

And not a moment too soon, because the anxiety of knowing that _Blackhawk-KU_ was firing unabated was building with every breath. She turned to unload that stress in the form of medium pulse lasers when the horror of the situation caved her chest in.

The relay station was done, the final shot taking out the support beam holding the far corner up. The structure started to cave in on itself and she screamed. "FUCK! Goddamn you!" She pushed full throttle into the _Blackhawk-KU_, sending it to its back, and alpha-striked the machine at point blank range. It was beautiful in a horrible, morbid way, as the front chassis of the Lyran 'mech was nearly dissolved under the attack and the insides pulverized.

The 'mech that took Sanders out was already in full retreat to the dropship pads, and she turned to face the distant combat ensuing, the smoking ruins of her defeated enemies on both sides of her. Then she opened up a general channel in a deep, venomous voice, "Thames. You are mine."

* * *

Behind the wheel of the second cargo hauler in the speeding convoy of death enroute to the starport, Alex's eyes widened as he realized the situation behind him was only going to get worse. He tried to contact Thao ahead of time through his communicator, though with all the noise and the wind on the bed of the truck, he didn't know if it would come through clearly. You would think being behind the wheel would make you the most powerful person on the rig, but he knew otherwise.

Three agents were sprinting toward his truck from the bed of the lead one. He planned on dodging to the left, where the shoulder was wide enough for him to maneuver to, but could not think of anything else.

Much to his dismay, the second man opened fire on the front of the truck as they jumped. The fire forced him to duck as the glass of the windshield cracked and splintered everywhere in response to the rounds and distracted him enough to allow the first two to make it to the hood and run over the top onto the cargo space behind. The third one jumped last, and Alex tried his best to veer out of the way and make him miss. But somehow he managed to grab the hood with his bare hand and warped it with the strength of his grip to hold on. The metal itself scrunched under his palm, and then he leapt over the top, disappearing from view.

Alex started punching the windshield in front of him and finally worked it free, sliding it off the hood and taking the force of the wind in his face as a fair price to pay for a clear view of the road again without the cracked glass to obscure his view. But what bothered him the most was that he was busy driving this truck and couldn't help nail the incoming men that just landed on his rig. It sucked to play the waiting game, and for the first time in his warrior career, he felt helpless.

* * *

"_Thao bzzt! -- three men hea bzzzzzt! -- atch your ass!"_

Thao heard the message and turned just in time to see an enemy agent knock him from the bed of the truck. He searched as quickly as he could and found the side of the bed rail and used it to swing under the vehicle. His grip faltered though, and the only thing he was able to grab was the spare tire holder under the truck, which was luckily empty.

The ground moved by at a blinding speed and the engine made enough noise to throw his mind in a blur. His submachine gun fell from his shoulder during the fall and dangled from his body with the strap barely holding on. When it fell, it shot toward the ground and instantly disappeared under the tire just feet from his body. He knew it was obliterated and found his chest burning with the effort to keep him from succumbing to the same fate.

He noticed the asphalt changed from the weathered patchwork they were on to smooth concrete, signifying their proximity to the starport. He would have to get his ass back on the truck soon enough, because time was most definitely running out.

The truck jumped a curb and the jolt threw Thao another foot down the spare tire rail. That was all that was needed to close the distance with the spinning wheels, which threw his feet down and nearly into the ground if he didn't throw every ounce of energy he had into keeping them up.

They touched again and he screamed as the lactic acid buildup in his pectorals hurt so bad he stopped thinking about his predicament and finally hit full fight or flight mode.

Letting go with his left arm and using just his right to keep his body at a right angle and parallel with the ground, he reached up and grabbed what he could of the side of the bed railing. Then, using just his left arm, he pulled himself over enough to get his head over the edge.

What he found almost shocked the energy out of him, but he knew the moment he let up he would be pancaked into the road, so he kept chugging. Above, Gennis and Julian squared off with two agents, with Julian looking really rough and Gennis in a headlock from his prospective opponent.

Julian's opposite managed to jab him in the ribs several times, forcing a look of excruciating pain onto Julian's face and pissing him off all the more. He then managed to kick one of Julian's knees out from under him and taking him down a peg. But when he bent over to wrap his hands around Julian's neck, the truck hit another bump and the man's balance was temporarily in question. That was all Julian needed to grab one of the man's hands and twist it in such a fashion to break his wrist. Then, without letting go, he pulled the man's arm over his shoulder and spun, throwing him high and watching him land on the edge of the bed, hard, before bouncing over the edge. He hit the street just once before crashing into the lower grill of the last truck and getting sucked under.

Lex was behind the wheel of the thing and got it closer as Julian noticed Rictor over the top with a rifle aimed at him. Using his better judgment, he realized that it probably wasn't him he was aiming at and promptly moved, hearing the whip of a bullet shooting past him and nailing Gennis' opponent in the chest. It didn't kill him, but it stopped him enough for Gennis to head butt the man and bash his head into the nearest crate a few times before literally hurling him over the edge and off the truck altogether.

"Hey!" Thao yelled to his teammates to help him up, which Gennis immediately responded.

Over the front of the truck they all saw chaos. No less than twenty 'mechs were shooting it out in the starport, with only two dropships and a cargo ship left on the ferrocrete pads, ready for take-off. Buildings were smashed, several 'mech corpses graced the landscape, and suddenly they realized just how late they were running. Most of the Lyran 'mechs were in full retreat from the firing militia, and defenders were posted near their dropship laying down cover fire. The 'mechs that were not heading back to the launch pads were making their last stand in front of Thao's convoy, and it wasn't any more pleasant there either.

Thao set his headset to scan mode so he could pick up anything over the general frequencies, and immediately heard the captain of their target ship yelling for them, _"Hey, this is Captain Carter of the Dragontooth. You have less than two minutes to get on this thing before we lift off. I am not kidding around here!"_

Thao responded, "We will make it! Do not take off without us!"

"_Hey, I'm not about leaving people behind, but I don't think you get it. If I'm not out of atmo in time, the blockade is ordered to shoot us down. You have ninety seconds!"_

Right then a loud thump grabbed their attention as Raynes landed with heavy feet on the bed of the truck. He was standing just feet away from Christine and Melissa, who were still huddled together, and he stared all of them down coolly. Thao remembered this man from the research center earlier and knew in his mind that they were not prepared to take him on.

But the revelation was short lived as they got close enough to the fighting 'mechs to need to hit evasive actions. The truck swerved left, then right, throwing everyone back there one way and the other.

When Thao got his vision back where it was, he found Gennis charging Raynes with a pistol up, but Raynes never took his eyes off Thao. He simply peeled Christine from her mother's arms and threw her over the few crates left and over the back edge of the truck bed.

It grabbed enough of Gennis' attention that he jumped for her, but missed and slammed into the bed in front of Raynes. All eyes were now on Christine, except for Raynes, who only wanted to use the moment to his advantage. Thao and Melissa followed her with their eyes as she sailed over the crates toward her father behind the windshield of the truck that would kill her on impact. Time seemed to slow and Christine's eyes, wide in shock, captured the attention of everyone, who nearly missed Julian as he jumped up after her and reeled her into his chest as he disappeared over the edge of the truck.

"Julian!" Thao screamed as Melissa screamed for her daughter. The emotions ran high and Thao responded by grabbing a tie-down chain that was loosened from one of the crates earlier and charging the indistinguishable man. Raynes was ready and planned on killing Thao in a single blow, but didn't anticipate the actions of an enraged mother.

Melissa jumped onto Raynes' back and clawed at his eyes right before he made his move, and he threw her off of him to have Thao wrap the chain around his neck and pull him over the side of the truck.

The end of the chain caught one of the loading hooks on the edge and he disappeared over the side in one smooth motion. Raynes didn't fall under the wheels, but was choked out by the chain as his feet drug on the ground and were quickly being rubbed away by the friction, flopping his lifeless body around every time it hit the concrete.

That is when things got really bad. Thao quickly looked ahead of the truck and found that their path, the most direct to their ship, lead them right into the mass of 'mech combat. Explosions, autocannon fire, and twisting metal filled the air and drowned out most of everything else. The heat alone was noticeable, telling full well the amount of munitions being laid down by both sides.

The front truck, still piloted by the other team's driver, figuring his best chance of survival was to get on the ship as well and work things out from there, was literally kicked by a running _Victor_. The impact alone sent an audible shockwave over the other two trucks, but the real damage was the truck, which was flying at full speed, getting booted from the ground and spun sideways, colliding with a small building, a slew of cars in a parking lot, and the feet of a _War Dog_ as it got in position to shoot at the _Victor_ that started the mess. The crates splintered and exploded under the impacts, sending equipment and wooden shrapnel everywhere. Augmented with the debris of the cars and the building that was literally swept aside from the spinning truck, everyone had to hit the bed of the trucks behind it and force themselves not to look at the _War Dog_ as the impact with its feet swept its legs out from under it and forced it into a mid air spin. Alex made his way past it first as it fell, him honestly not thinking they would make it and completely surprised that he made it under in time. What he didn't see however, was the truck behind him, thought lost as it should slam into the 'mech. But to his utter shock, the 'mech, in its slow but impressive horizontal spin, hit the ground and bounced just enough to allow the second truck, still running at full speed, to slip underneath before it fell again to its resting place. It was phenomenal, and Lex Barret's heart took a few moments to start up again.

The ground tremor was unreal, and the whole world seemed to shake at the impact. The second truck shook so hard that it lost half of what cargo it had left and forced Vanessa to hold onto the edge as her body flung off the side. She did manage to pull herself back on though, and then she promptly strapped herself in with the tie-down chains.

Thao poked his head above the cab again to get the best possible view of their drive path. It was a nightmare, with 'mechs running through it from all directions and debris from the battle making its way in to create obstacles that they would normally drive around.

But they had no time. He just touched his mic and told Alex to blow through it, full court press, to which he replied, _"Alright, strap yourself in!"_

Melissa finally made her way to the end of the truck bed to find Julian hanging off the back holding Christine close. His feet were constantly hitting the ground, and his boots were already torn off from the skidding impacts. He simply didn't have the strength or leverage to get Christine over the edge to pull him back on. He just held her tight and clenched his teeth as his feet were violently skinned every second or two.

Completely blocking out the awe that was four story battlemechs unloading pulverizing firepower into each other, lumbering over the trucks like people walking around rodents and setting the world ablaze with every devastating volley, Melissa reached out and pulled Christine to safety on the truck bed, and then helped Julian up. He hit the fetal position and she pulled him and her daughter back to the tie-down chains. Using the intuition she relied on, she strapped the three of them to the truck bed itself and prayed for the best.

Thao grabbed the cab roof and tried his hardest to keep a hold of it, bracing for the last curb jump before hitting the loading ramp to the Dragontooth. The thrusters were already warmed up and smoke was starting to expand from under it, telling him that he had mere seconds before the ramp closed up and sentenced him to death here on this planet.

The curb forced the truck to bounce too much though, and he flew off of the cab and landed on his back on the bed behind it. He hit his head and felt the world blot itself out for an instant before realizing what had happened. He successfully stood up, but was just now focusing his vision when Gennis, not strapped down like he was supposed to be, ran and pushed him down again, hard.

As he hit the ground, warm blood splattered on his face, and when he looked, he saw Raynes, seemingly back from the dead and looking the part, standing several meters away with his right arm split open to reveal a shotgun barrel protruding from his palm. It was a prosthetic limb and he must've had Thao in his sights because Gennis pushed him down just in time to save him, but had his arm blown off in the process.

Gennis himself crouched low to clutch his left side, now armless, while Thao instinctively drew his side arm and unloaded the magazine into Raynes, blowing parts of his body to pieces and sending him off the truck and into the grill of Lex's rig behind them. He crashed into it hard, and then disappeared under the vehicle altogether.

Then Thao, acting on pure instinct, knowing that the ramp was coming up, grabbed Gennis and pulled him under the nearest tie-down chains, securing them just before they hit the loading ramp of the Dragontooth.

The pitch of the truck increased dramatically and it actually got some air before landing in the cargo hold and skidding sideways, violently demolishing everything in its path. Two integral ship structures didn't budge so easily, and the impacts redirected the truck in several directions before it finally slammed into the far wall. The impact must've rocked the ship since they were at top speed before hitting the ramp, but the worst was yet to come.

The second truck hit the ramp right as it started to lift itself into place, and it spun sideways as it plowed through everything _else_ in the bay to slam into the wall next to them. The crash was astounding, deafening everyone at once and sending the sounds of everything destroyed, be it metal rails, staircases, cargo, and the truck itself, echoing off of the high metal ceiling. Again, the entire ship rocked to that side, but never stopped the take off sequence. It was actually lifting into the air before the door was even sealed, and just like that, their world slowed down. The soothing rumble of the thrusters and vibrating hull signified their success, but the silence of the people signified the price.

* * *

Outside, Kirsa's men fought their hearts out. Only four of them remained, and they kept their distance from the dropship as its defenses were keeping them where it wanted them. They nailed more than their number of retreating Lyran 'mechs and laid waste to the battlefield.

Amidst the fighting, she singled Thames' _Sagittaire_ out to finish it off herself. The battle was fierce, with few words spoken. With most of her weapons destroyed, her left arm lying on the ground somewhere behind her, and the internal structure of her right leg blown to scrap, she finally fired the crippling blow, nailing its engine and overheating it to shutdown.

"We are different, you and I."

Thames' _Sagittaire_ stood still in front of her, steam rising from every gun barrel. He could not move it, and he was completely at he mercy. But he still responded, _"We are different. I see the big picture, the billions that rely on me to protect them."_

She approached his 'mech and got close, almost as if her _Caesar _was a living giant and she wanted to breath on him. She tried to stare in the cockpit, but it was tinted so dark that she couldn't get the satisfaction of looking him in the face, "You are no better than a mass murderer. A child that pulls the legs out of beetles.

"These are my people, and I protect _them_."

"_That you do."_

And she pumped what firepower she had left into his 'mech, destroying the engine and caving the cockpit in on itself. The chassis was thrown backward slightly under the weight of the sudden fire, and it hit with a dull thud, forcing dust up around it and never moving again. The cockpit was gone, and so was her enemy.

She looked up at the final dropship taking off and felt part of her victory fly away with it. But she wasn't too hard on herself. She avenged her people, even if the world wouldn't know why they died. At least now they could rest in peace.

* * *

Onboard the dropship Hammerfist, Jeffrey Thames looked down at Kirsa Lindemann in her 'mech, a rugged piece of warfare reduced to near scrap metal. Its appearance was reminisce of his soul, scared from battle and the pain of others. But this was not his time to die. The only thing he took away from this planet was that he let a fine warrior like her have her day. The people, they died for a noble cause. The planet, a casualty of the natural order, dying so others can survive.

Sergeant Major Brent Harrison, his senior aide and probably the closest thing he had to a friend, volunteered to take his 'mech and hold them off. He knew that she would refrain from assaulting the dropships if she found his _Sagittaire _on the battlefield, letting her emotions get the best of her and allowing the others to escape. He was right, though in the process sacrificed his life for his commander's. Thames communicated with Kirsa from within the safety of his dropship and watched the battle from afar.

This was not his time to die. He would go back to the Lyran Alliance and make sure that those lost here did not die for nothing. He was a soldier for house Steiner, and strength was his greatest attribute. The strength to distance himself from compassion.

After a deep breath, he contacted Kaptain Warrick on board the Fox class Corvette in low orbit and gave him the order to commence assault. Within moments he saw the little flashes of light that were the thermonuclear warhead carrying missiles heading for their targets.

He justified it all to himself, _Ashes to ashes, dust to dust._

* * *

Inside the cargo hold of the Dragontooth, Thao Prentice pulled himself to his feet and checked the body near him. Gennis Newclay survived the crash, but he needed to find something to stop the bleeding of his stump as quickly as possible if he had any chance of surviving his injury.

After a moment, Lex Barret appeared from the cab of the other truck looking worse for wear, but somehow moving uninhibited. Apparently the safety equipment inside the truck preserved him.

"Lex! I need you!"

He hurried up to Thao and saw the situation. Lex immediately removed his belt and made a tourniquet while asking Thao to look for Melissa and Christine.

Thao nodded and started looking for them when something caught his eye outside one of the windows overlooking the planet below. He approached the glass and watched as the warheads descended through the clouds, disappeared for a few endless moments, and detonated across the surface.

Five nuclear explosions enveloped the dark side of the planet, each surging through the clouds and lighting the sides of the ships in orbit. Mushroom clouds formed, still illuminated by the residual energy, and they showed just enough to see the ripples in the clouds, the shockwaves sent out over the surface of the main continent. It was mesmerizing and horrific at the same time. He had never seen anything like it. He viewed many nuclear test videos and historical files, but these were so much larger than any he had ever imagined. It was silent and distant, yet he could feel every ounce of energy before him.

He looked back and saw Lex finishing with Gennis. They locked eyes and Lex knew. He somehow sensed his home was lost to him, and Thao could see that some part of him died with it. But he kept working, trying his hardest to not let it interfere with his helping those around him.

For a moment, Thao almost thought he could have been clan, needlessly risking himself for the benefit of others he barely knew. But he realized that it didn't matter. If this mission taught him anything, it was that the human race could not be segmented by value of one's life, heritage, or political affiliation. Life was life, and murder was murder.

He kept looking for Melissa and Christine when the loudspeakers lit up in the bay, _"Hello. This is Captain Carter. I am sending help. Any survivors should try to group up."_

* * *

Two hours later, everyone was accounted for. Rictor was launched from the bed of his truck into a series of piping exposed from the destruction caused by the first vehicle. He died on impact. Alex suffered multiple internal injuries from the jarring inside the cab while his truck made its way through the bay. He died shortly after he was found.

Julian made it, though he was in and out of consciousness, and Gennis was sedated after he was stabilized. Along with his arm was a small vertebrate fracture, so he was strapped into a stretcher and left still to prevent any further injury.

The rest were present and accounted for, with several broken bones, another concussion or two, and a nasty cut that Lex ended up stitching later on. His family was fine, and the crew of the Dragontooth was most helpful. Thao realized that Captain Carter got word of the strike before he took off, and was told that that was the reason he waited for them to arrive. He didn't want to leave anyone on that planet to die if he could help it. Not ones sent there to help it initially.

Thao stayed back in the bay to check the equipment. The samples of the virus stayed intact thanks to the ultra dense travel containers used, and the nanite solutions were preserved, along with the data used to make them.

What he was also concerned about was the cargo swapped out by the other special ops team before it was loaded on the trucks. With so much lost during the chase and the crash at the end, it didn't take long for him to sift through the remaining cargo.

He ended up finding a long-range transmitter with its own power source. Gregors postulated that it could be used to send an encoded stress signal so the unit's extraction team could zero in on it.

Thao took that idea and made an encoded message of his own, something only the Jade Falcon Watch would understand. He included the code work for his possession of a cure, and the need for extraction. Gregors kept track of the ship's location in relation to the Lyran naval blockade, and found out that they were to stay in orbit until all the cargo was checked and verified, on every ship. Then groups would be assigned and sent out to the jumpships at the zenith point in-system.

Thao knew his unit didn't have the credentials to back their identities up, not this time. They really had no clue who they were impersonating, but the crew of the Dragontooth didn't care. At least not yet. They just welcomed them with open arms and were glad they could help. He feared that hospitality would be short lived.

As soon as he encoded his message, he had Gregors power the unit and transmit, having it send a short burst at max power to reach anything in the area that would understand it. He really didn't know its range, and just hoped for the best. They expected other ships to receive it and maybe contact the Dragontooth to inquire, but to their surprise, nothing came of it. Maybe radio chatter was so abundant that no one cared enough to look into it. Either way, they weren't complaining.

* * *

After nineteen more hours, the call for the inventory check and verification came through from Lyran Command. And before Thao could tell Captain Carter what _not_ to say, he gave them the scoop on what had happened and that they couldn't verify all the stuff on board.

It took just minutes for command to reply with a certain amount of tension.

"_You mean, the trucks crashed into your bay? They did not have proper clearance?"_

"That is exactly what I'm saying. Most of the passengers survived though. I would appreciate being on the first trip out, some of them need serious medical attention."

Carter waited for a reply to his request. When he got one, he didn't like it.

"_Dragontooth, stand by. A naval unit is on its way to deal with this situation."_

"Deal with the situation? I have people in here that need to be helped--"

"_And we have a viral weapon to contain. The names given of your 'extended' crew do not match the units they claim to be with. Have you checked all the cargo?"_

"I told you, the cargo is not in any condition to be identified right now. The entire bay is a mess."

"_I see."_ Then a long pause followed. Way too long. And then, _"Someone was already sent to take care of everything. Maintain your course."_

Frustrated, Carter cut the connection and left the room. He explained everything to Thao who put it all together instantly.

But it was Carter's sensor man that rang the bell. "Sir, the relays show their warship moving, toward us."

"What? Where is it now?"

"Pretty far, near the opposite end of the planet. But at the speed it's at…"

"Don't jump to conclusions. Contact its bridge and ask it what's up."

"Aye sir."

The sensor man tried several times to raise the Corvette, but no answer came back. In fact, Lyran Command altogether failed to reply to anything. Carter got more and more worried by the minute.

After forty minutes, the Fox class Corvette appeared over the crest of the planet. It was still far out of range, but it was heading toward them, there was no doubt about it. The other craft around them in the Dragontooth dispersed and disappeared, insinuating that they had orders to do so from Lyran Command and the Dragontooth was left behind for a reason.

They were nearing the moon Galdus, Kenton's only satellite. The sun was still on the other side of the planet, their orbit keeping them in the dark side. The Corvette in the far distance shimmered in the light, daunting in its presence.

Another ten minutes and they finally received a communiqué. _"Crew of the Dragontooth, this is Kaptain Warrick of the Lyran warship heading in your direction. You are to kill your thrusters and await my forward units."_

"Kaptain Warrick, what is this about?"

"_The crew you took in before takeoff is under suspicion of being a foreign intelligence agency in possession of the White Death. This is just a precaution."_

Carter looked back at Thao and gave him a look of confusion. He didn't really believe all this was happening. But Gregors just told the sensors guy to zoom in on the forward craft, and when they identified them as fighters and not transports, Carter immediately hit the button to talk to Warrick again.

"Kaptain Warrick, with what do you intend to accomplish by sending only fighters over?" Carter tried to raise the Lyran Kaptain again while watching Gregors, who was deep in thought.

"I can have the men apprehended and ready for exchange if you send a transport. I repeat, what do you intend to do with the fighters? These men have families to get back to."

There was no response, and Thao and Gregors exchanged worrisome looks. That was when Carter had to ask them, "Is he right? Are you guys intelligence officers?"

They knew they were not going to be apprehended by Carter, and that his mind was only trying to absorb the reality that was shooting toward him at top fighter speed. The fighters were coming to wipe him out, and him being in an unarmed transport, could do absolutely nothing about it. When Thao and Gregors both didn't respond, Carter grew angry, if only for a moment.

"It is, isn't it? Why did you have to pick this ship to crash on? Why didn't you--"

Thao raised his hand to silence him while looking at the ground with defeat in his eyes. "It does not matter."

And he was right. Time ticked away as they knew they could not outrun the fighters. It seemed like forever, and it really was in some regards as they awaited the doom heading toward them. The range trackers ticked down, and Carter finally addressed everyone on the ship, "This is the Captain speaking. The Lyran military… decided we were a threat, and are going to dispatch us in a few minutes. We are trying everything we can up here, but if there is anything you want to record for your families, do it now. It…" and his voice quivered slightly, "has been a privilege working with you. May God guide us in."

The range meter turned red as the incoming fighters armed themselves, and several warning sirens alerted everyone that multiple target locks were acquired on their vessel.

This was it. Not the Lyran ground forces, mysterious elite covert ops units, militias, or that damned virus could stop them. They got this far to be wiped from orbit. Thao closed his eyes and cursed the heavens when the sensors guy yelled out, "Holy shit! I have a spike. A huge one, behind us!"

The pilot, who powered up the navigational thrusters when they retired to their fate, turned the ship around to see a small orb form in the distance between Kenton and Galdus. It surged with electrical energy and paused for a moment, before expanding impossibly fast to a massive spherical enclosure. There was no sound of course, but the energy emitted vibrated the ship, slightly at first, then violently as the orb expanded, the vibrations rumbling to signify the intensity of activity.

And at the moment of expanding apex, a dark shape enveloped inside, appearing out of nothing. And the orb dissipated, sending a final spike of energy through the Dragontooth, and the shape floated there in the darkness for a moment before everyone figured out what it was.

It was a Fredasa Corvette, the clans' 180,000-ton warship. A wide-eyed Thao Prentice slowly formed a smile that was shared by every member of his unit on the ship.

Captain Carter and his crew stared in amazement as the giant ship's arrival to the Lagrange point was simply miraculous. "Did I… did I just see that?"

"My God," exclaimed another member of his crew.

"Who is it?"

"I can't tell. The IF signature is… this, this isn't workable."

And after a minute and a half, it sent a communiqué to both the Dragontooth and the now stopped fighter units.

"_Incoming Lyran fighters: cease your advance and return to your carrier, or I will open fire and wipe you from orbit. To the guests on the civilian transport: Metalface sent me. I am here to take you home."_

Every Nighthawk in the vessel breathed a sigh of relief. Some cheered aloud, while others simply smiled and embraced those around him. Thao and Gregors shook hands and pulled each other close while trying to breathe normal again, and the fighters in the distance waited for order conformation from Kaptain Warrick.

After another twenty seconds, they began retreating to the maximum weapons' range of the Fredasa while the Fox Corvette in the far distance started its engines and tried to close the range between it and the smaller warship before it could run off with its treasure. Kaptain Warrick tried to open communications between the vessels, but the Fredasa would have none of it. It stayed silent and opened a private channel between it and the Dragontooth.

A small craft disembarked and made its way over to their cargo ship while Thao and everyone under his care packed up what they could and prepared to be picked up. The transport made it well before the Fox Corvette was in range, and they departed and left the now prize less Dragontooth to the mercy of the Lyran navy in confidence that they would be spared.

Once they docked, the clan warship maneuvered to another spot, following the orbit of the moon and locked itself into the premier balance point between the gravitational fields between Kenton and Galdus. It was intricate, but done with such efficiency that all anyone could do was watch and enjoy the show.

After a few moments, another orb formed around the great ship and sent waves of turbulence through everything around it, climbing to another climax, and disappearing as quickly as it arrived.

It left nothing but the jump trace and a bunch of dumbfounded faces.


	7. Epilogue

**EPILOGUE**

The gravdeck on the Kerensky's Blues was quiet, with the hum of the engines being the only background noise. Everyone was off eating or finding ways to entertain themselves, and Julian found a nice, quiet corner to stare off into the heavens.

They had only been traveling for three and a half days on the warship since jumping from Kenton in a zigzag pattern back to the Falcon OZ. Julian had finally stabilized again and his recovery was astounding. Both Lex and the onboard doctors were amazed at the strength he conjured. But his movements were solemn, and his mood isolated him from everyone around him.

Thao made his way into the room behind Julian, and noticed that he could see Lex with his family on the next level through the glass walls. Since the deck was circular and gravity hit the outside ring, the floor and walls were difficult to reference, but made for some very creative internal designs.

Just approaching his friend Thao could feel the weight of the world emanating from within him. He simply walked up and put his hand on Julian's shoulder.

"Thao…" he started, slowly trying to formulate his sentence correctly, "I am sorry."

"For what?"

Julian turned a little so he could look him in the face, "You needed me back there, and I ran off. I put myself first."

Thao was going to respond, but he also wanted to articulate this properly. This was again a side of Julian he was not used to seeing, and did not want to mishandle it. So he thought about everything from the outside in and responded, "Did she need you?"

"… Yeah."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

Julian paused, then looked again through the window to the stars, "No."

Thao dipped his head in defeat, but then realized that Julian was being a little too hard on himself. "You know, we did get the cure."

"And all those people down there--"

"Not our mission." Thao interjected. He didn't like being so cold, but there was only one way to deal with what happened, and that was not by accepting any responsibility for the extermination of an entire planet when it was out of your hands. "Look, I do not like it, but we cannot think that way. We get this back to Sudeten. We may have saved everyone in the Occupation Zone. Maybe even farther."

Julian looked away now, at Lex and his family, enjoying the scenery and joking around. "Yeah."

Slightly smiling, Thao left his friend with another light pat to the shoulder while looking at Christine jumping on the gravdeck floor, amused by the lightened gravity in a way only a child could enjoy. Julian, despite his condition, risked his life to save a freebirth child who had no bearing on the mission, yet in doing so hit the hearts of everyone on the team. "Hey, you did good out there. You surprised us all, again."

Then he left Julian to his thoughts.

After a few moments he hit the button that dimmed the walls so he could have some privacy. He sat down and buried his face in his hands. The revelations came to him over and over again, like waves in an ocean, crashing into his mind and overpowering it every time.

Ashley loved the man he was, yet it was the machine who carried him through. It was always the machine that survived. The man was vulnerable, and though he fought so hard to suppress that vulnerability, it was that that brought him the most joy. And it was that that gave him her, and the feelings he got when he embraced her.

That was the human side, the weak side, and the side she showed him was so much stronger than everything else. The other agent was the machine, and thinking back, it was Julian's rage that won him the day, though it was his control over his own emotions that allowed him to carry forward.

It was so confusing, but he knew one thing: he needed both. Balancing that was impossible, though he was cursed to do that every moment of every day. If one side slipped up…

Julian Buhallin never showed vulnerability. Not to his enemies, not to his friends, and especially, never to himself.

But just this once, for her, he let it all out. For the first time since he could remember, he cried.


End file.
